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diff --git a/26975-8.txt b/26975-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f58e652 --- /dev/null +++ b/26975-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5610 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Chapters in Rural Progress, by Kenyon L. Butterfield + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Chapters in Rural Progress + +Author: Kenyon L. Butterfield + +Release Date: October 20, 2008 [EBook #26975] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHAPTERS IN RURAL PROGRESS *** + + + + +Produced by Tom Roch, Martin Pettit and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images produced by Core Historical +Literature in Agriculture (CHLA), Cornell University) + + + + + + +CHAPTERS IN RURAL PROGRESS + + +THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS +CHICAGO, ILLINOIS + + +Agents + +THE BAKER & TAYLOR COMPANY +NEW YORK + +THE CUNNINGHAM, CURTISS & WELCH COMPANY +LOS ANGELES + +THE CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS +LONDON AND EDINBURGH + +THE MARUZEN-KABUSHIKI-KAISHA +TOKYO, OSAKA, KYOTO, FUKUOKA, SENDAI + +THE MISSION BOOK COMPANY +SHANGHAI + +KARL W. HIERSEMANN +LEIPZIG + + + + +CHAPTERS IN RURAL PROGRESS + +BY + +KENYON L. BUTTERFIELD + +_President of the Massachusetts Agricultural College_ + +[Illustration: Publisher's logo] + +THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS +CHICAGO, ILLINOIS + + +COPYRIGHT 1907 BY +THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO + +All Rights Reserved + +Published February 1908 +Second Impression June 1909 +Third Impression May 1911 +Fourth Impression February 1913 +Fifth Impression October 1916 + +Composed and Printed By +The University of Chicago Press +Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A. + + + TO MY FATHER + IRA HOWARD BUTTERFIELD + + WHOSE CONSTANT CONCERN FOR RURAL WELFARE + AND LIFE-LONG SERVICE TO RURAL INTERESTS + HAVE BEEN ONE OF THE CHIEF + INCENTIVES TO THE STUDIES + LYING BEHIND THIS BOOK + + + + +PREFACE + + +This book does not offer a complete analysis of the rural problem; but +attempts, in general, to present some of the more significant phases of +that problem, and, in particular, to describe some of the agencies at +work in solving it. Several of the chapters were originally magazine +articles, and, though all have been revised and in some cases entirely +rewritten, they have the limitations of such articles. Other chapters +consist of more formal addresses. Necessarily there will be found some +lack of uniformity in style and in method of presentation, and +occasional duplication of argument or statement. + +For permission to use articles, in whole or in part, I have to thank the +editors of the _Chautauquan_, _Arena_, _Forum_, _Review of Reviews_, +_Popular Science Monthly_, _Michigan Alumnus_, _New England Farmer_, +_Cornell Countryman_; also Professor L. R. Taft, superintendent of +Farmers' Institutes in Michigan, and the officers of the American Civic +Association. Two chapters comprise material heretofore unpublished. + + +CONTENTS + + +INTRODUCTION + + +CHAPTER PAGE + + I. The Study of Rural Life 3 + + II. The Problems of Progress 11 + + +THE OUTLOOK + +III. The Expansion of Farm Life 45 + + IV. The New Farmer 53 + + V. Culture from the Corn-Lot 66 + + +AGENCIES OF PROGRESS + + VI. Education for the Farmer 77 + + VII. Farmers' Institutes 92 + +VIII. The Hesperia Movement 104 + + IX. The Rural School and the Community 121 + + X. The Grange 136 + + XI. Opportunities for Farm Women 162 + + XII. The Country Church and Progress 170 + +XIII. A Summary of Recent Progress 183 + + +FORWARD STEPS + + XIV. The Social Side of the Farm Question 199 + + XV. The Needs of New England Agriculture 204 + + XVI. An Untilled Field in American Education 216 + +XVII. Federation for Rural Progress 233 + + + + +INTRODUCTION + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE STUDY OF RURAL LIFE + + +The American farm problem, particularly its sociological aspect, has not +as yet had the attention that it deserves from students. Much less have +the questions that concern rural social advancement found the popular +mind; in truth, the general city public has not been deeply interested +in the farmer. + +But there seem to be recent indications that the sentiment is changing. +The heated discussions in New England about Mr. Hartt's interesting +clinic over a decadent hill-town, the suggestive fast-day proclamation +of Governor Rollins of New Hampshire a few years ago, the marvelous +development of agricultural education, the renewed study of the rural +school, the widespread and growing delight in country life, have all +aroused an interest in and presage a new attention to rural conditions. +This is well. The sociologist can hardly afford to omit the rural +classes from the scope of his study, especially if he desires to +investigate the practical phases of his subject. Moreover, no one with +intelligent notions of affairs should be ignorant of the forces that +control rural life. + +In view of this apparent change in the attitude of people toward the +farm problem, it may not be idle to suggest some possible errors that +should be avoided when we are thinking of rural society. The student +will doubtless approach his problem fortified against misconceptions--he +probably has thoughtfully established his view-point. But the average +person in the city is likely to call up the image of his ancestral home +of a generation ago, if he were born in the country, or, if not, to draw +upon his observations made on a summer vacation or on casual business +trips into the interior. Or he takes his picture from _Shore Acres_ and +the _Old Homestead_. In any case it is not improbable that the image may +be faulty and as a consequence his appreciation of present conditions +wholly inadequate. Let us consider some of these possible sources of +misconception. + +In the first place it is not fair to compare country life as a whole +with the best city conditions. This is often done. The observer usually +has education, culture, leisure, the experience of travel, more or less +wealth; his acquaintance is mostly with people of like attainments. +When he fails to find a rural environment that corresponds in some +degree to his own and that of his friends, he is quick to conclude that +the country has nothing to offer him, that only the city ministers to +the higher wants of man. He forgets that he is one of a thousand in the +city, and does not represent average city life. He fails to compare the +average country conditions with the average city conditions, manifestly +the only fair basis for comparison. Or he may err still more grievously. +He may set opposite each other the worst country conditions and the +better city conditions. He ought in all justice to balance country slum +with city slum; and certainly so if he insists on trying to find +palaces, great libraries, eloquent preachers, theaters, and rapid +transit in each rural community. City life goes to extremes; country +life, while varied, is more even. In the country there is little of +large wealth, luxury, and ease; little also of extreme poverty, reeking +crime, unutterable filth, moral sewage. Farmers are essentially a middle +class and no comparison is fair that does not keep this fact ever in +mind. + +We sometimes hear the expression, "Country life is so barren--that to me +is its most discouraging aspect." Much country life is truly barren; +but much more of it is so only relatively and not essentially. We must +admit that civilization is at least partially veneer; polish does +wonders for the appearance of folks as well as of furniture. But while +the beauty of "heart of oak" is enhanced by its "finish," its utility is +not destroyed by a failure to polish it. Now, much of the so-called +barrenness of country life is the oak minus the polish. We come to +regard polish as essential; it is largely relative. And not only may we +apply the wrong standard to the situation, but our eyes may deceive us. +To the uninitiated a clod of dry earth is the most unpromising of +objects--it is cousin to the stone, and the type of barrenness. But to +the elect it is pregnant with the possibilities of seed-time and +harvest, of a full fruitage, of abundance and content for man and beast. +And there is many a farm home, plain to an extreme, devoid of the +veneer, a home that to the man of the town seems lacking in all the +things that season life, but a home which virtue, intelligence, thrift, +and courage transform into a garden of roses and a type of heaven. I do +not justify neglect of the finer material things of life, nor plead for +drab and homespun as passports to the courts of excellence; but I insist +that the plainness, simple living, absence of luxury, lack of polish +that may be met with in the country, do not necessarily accompany a +condition barren of the essentials of the higher life. + +Sometimes rural communities are ridiculed because of the trivial nature +of their gossip, interests, and ambitions. There may be some justice in +the criticism, though the situation is pathetic rather than humorous. +But is the charge wholly just? In comparing country with town we are +comparing two environments; necessarily, therefore, objects of gossip, +interests, and ambitions differ therein. We expect that. It is no +criticism to assert that fact. The test is not that of an existing +difference, but of an essential quality. Is not Ben Bolt's new top buggy +as legitimate a topic for discussion as is Arthur John Smythe's new +automobile? Does not the price of wheat mean as much to the hard-working +grower as to the broker who may never see a grain of it? May not the +grove at Turtle Lake yield as keen enjoyment as do the continental +forests? Is the ambition to own a fine farm more ignoble than the desire +to own shares in a copper mine? It really does not matter so much what +one gossips about or what one's delights are or what the carving of the +rungs on ambition's ladder; the vital question is the effect of these +things on character. Do they stunt or encourage the inner life? It must +be admitted that country people do not always accept their environing +opportunities for enjoying the higher life of mind and heart. But do +they differ in this respect from their cousins of the town? + +We must remember, too, that this is a large country, and that a study of +rural conditions in a certain community, township, county, state, or +section may not give us the correct basis upon which to determine the +agricultural status of the country. + +Nor must we make the mistake of confusing conservatism and decadence. +That the city will in many particulars always progress more rapidly than +the country is inevitable. But speed is not the ultimate criterion of a +full life. Again must we apply the test whether the gain is relative or +essential. Telephones, free mail delivery, electric car lines, operas, +great libraries, cathedrals--all come to the city first, some of them +solely to the city. The country cannot hope to be other than inherently +conservative as regards such institutions. But may there not be found +such adaptations of or substitutes for these institutions as shall not +only preserve the rural community from decadence, but, indeed, build it +up into strength, beauty, and purity? + +Comparative lack of identical resources need not mean poverty of +attainment. Let us agree that relatively the country will lag behind the +town. Is the country continually gaining in those things that are +fundamentally important and that minister to its best life? is the +kernal question. + +Perhaps the most common error in studying rural conditions is the +failure to distinguish the vital difference between the urban problem +and the rural problem. _Sociologically the city problem is that of +congestion; the rural problem is that of isolation._ The social +conditions of country and city are wholly different. Institutions that +succeed in alleviating social disorders in the town may or may not +succeed in the country--in any event they must be adapted to country +needs. This applies to organizations, schools, libraries, social +settlements. And the adaptation must be one not only of form but of +spirit. In other words, the farm problem is a peculiar problem, +demanding special study, a new point of view, and sometimes unique +institutions. + +Those accustomed to large cities make a pretty broad classification of +"country." A town of five thousand people is to them "country." But it +is not country. The problem of the village and the small town is not the +rural problem, take it the nation over. The smaller the town, the more +nearly it approaches to rural conditions, but its essential problem is +not that of the farm. + +And, finally, let no one suppose that philanthropy is the chief medicine +for the social ill-health of the country. The intelligent student who +possesses the true spirit of helpfulness may find in the rural problem +ample scope for both his brain and his heart. But he will make a +fundamental and irreparable error if he starts out with the notion that +pity, charity, and direct gifts will win the day. You may flatter the +American farmer; you cannot patronize him. He demands and needs, not +philanthropy, but simple justice, equal opportunity, and better +facilities for education. He is neither slave nor pauper. + +To conclude: There is a farm problem, and it is worth solving. But it +differs from the city problem. And if, as is to be hoped, the recently +renewed interest in this question is to be permanent, we trust that +those who desire to make it a special study, as well as those whose +interest in it is general and widely human, may from the start avoid the +errors that are likely to obscure rural conditions when viewed through +city eyes. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE PROBLEMS OF PROGRESS[1] + + +It is impossible to acquire a keen and permanent interest in the rural +problem unless one first of all is cognizant of its significance. And +lack of knowledge at this point may in part account for the fact already +alluded to that in America the farm problem has not been adequately +studied. So stupendous has been the development of our manufacturing +industries, so marvelous the growth of our urban population, so pressing +the questions raised by modern city life, that the social and economic +interests of the American farmer have, as a rule, received minor +consideration. We are impressed with the rise of cities like Chicago, +forgetting for the moment that half of the American people still live +under rural conditions. We are perplexed by the labor wars that are +waged about us, for the time unmindful that one-third of the workers of +this country make their living immediately from the soil. We are +astounded, and perhaps alarmed, at the great centralization of capital, +possibly not realizing that the capital invested in agriculture in the +United States nearly equals the combined capital invested in the +manufacturing and railway industries. But if we pause to consider the +scope and nature of the economic and social interests involved, we +cannot avoid the conclusion that the farm problem is worthy of serious +thought from students of our national welfare. + +We are aware that agriculture does not hold the same relative rank among +our industries that it did in former years, and that our city population +has increased far more rapidly than has our rural population. We do not +ignore the fact that urban industries are developing more rapidly than +is agriculture, nor deny the seriousness of the actual depletion of +rural population, and even of community decadence, in some portions of +the Union. But these facts merely add to the importance of the farm +question. And it should not be forgotten that there has been a large and +constant growth both of our agricultural wealth and of our rural +population. During the last half-century there was a gain of 500 per +cent. in the value of farm property, while the non-urban population +increased 250 per cent. Agriculture has been one of the chief elements +of America's industrial greatness, it is still our dominant economic +interest, and it will long remain at least a leading industry. The +people of the farm have furnished a sturdy citizenship and have been the +primary source of much of our best leadership in political, business, +and professional life. For an indefinite future, a large proportion of +the American people will continue to live in a rural environment. + + +WHAT IS THE FARM PROBLEM? + +Current agricultural discussion would lead us to think that the farm +problem is largely one of technique. The possibilities of the +agricultural industry, in the light of applied science, emphasize the +need of the farmer for more complete knowledge of soil and plant and +animal, and for increased proficiency in utilizing this knowledge to +secure greater production at less cost. This is a fundamental need. It +lies at the basis of success in farming. But it is not the farm problem. + +Business skill must be added, business methods enforced. The farmer must +be not only a more skilful produce-grower, but also a keener +produce-seller. But the moment we enter the realm of the market we step +outside the individualistic aspect of the problem as embodied in the +current doctrine of technical agricultural teaching, and are forced to +consider the social aspect as emphasized, first of all, in the economic +category of price. Here we find many factors--transportation cost, +general market conditions at home and abroad, the status of other +industries, and even legislative activities. The farm problem becomes an +industrial question, not solely one of technical and business skill. +Moreover, the problem is one of a successful industry as a whole, not +merely the personal successes of even a respectable number of individual +farmers. The farming class must progress as a unit. + +But have we yet reached the heart of the question? Is the farm problem +one of technique plus business skill, plus these broad economic +considerations? Is it not perfectly possible that agriculture as an +industry may remain in a fairly satisfactory condition, and yet the +farming class fail to maintain its status in the general social order? +Is it not, for instance, quite within the bounds of probability to +imagine a good degree of economic strength in the agricultural industry +existing side by side with either a peasant régime or a +landlord-and-tenant system? Yet would we expect from either system the +same social fruitage that has been harvested from our American yeomanry? + +We conclude, then, that _the farm problem consists in maintaining upon +our farms a class of people who have succeeded in procuring for +themselves the highest possible class status, not only in the +industrial, but in the political and the social order--a relative +status, moreover, that is measured by the demands of American ideals._ +The farm problem thus connects itself with the whole question of +democratic civilization. This is not mere platitude. For we cannot +properly judge the significance and the relation of the different +industrial activities of our farmers, and especially the value of the +various social agencies for rural betterment, except by the standard of +class status. It is here that we seem to find the only satisfactory +philosophy of rural progress. + +We would not for a moment discredit the fundamental importance of +movements that have for their purpose the improved technical skill of +our farmers, better business management of the farm, and wiser study and +control of market conditions. Indeed, we would call attention to the +fact that social institutions are absolutely necessary means of securing +these essential factors of industrial success. In the solution of the +farm problem we must deliberately invoke the influence of quickened +means of communication, of co-operation among farmers, of various means +of education, and possibly even of religious institutions, to stimulate +and direct industrial activity. What needs present emphasis is the fact +that there is a definite, real, social end to be held in view as the +goal of rural endeavor. The highest possible social status for the +farming class is that end. + +We may now, as briefly as possible, describe some of the difficulties +that lie in the path of the farmers in their ambition to attain greater +class efficiency and larger class influence, and some of the means at +hand for minimizing the difficulties. A complete discussion of the farm +problem should, of course, include thorough consideration of the +technical, the business, and the economic questions implied by the +struggle for industrial success; for industrial success is prerequisite +to the achievement of the greatest social power of the farming class. +But we shall consider only the social aspects of the problem. + + +RURAL ISOLATION + +Perhaps the one great underlying social difficulty among American +farmers is their comparatively isolated mode of life. The farmer's +family is isolated from other families. A small city of perhaps twenty +thousand population will contain from four hundred to six hundred +families per square mile, whereas a typical agricultural community in a +prosperous agricultural state will hardly average more than ten families +per square mile. The farming class is isolated from other classes. +Farmers, of course, mingle considerably in a business and political way +with the men of their trading town and county seat; but, broadly +speaking, farmers do not associate freely with people living under urban +conditions and possessing other than the rural point of view. It would +be venturesome to suggest very definite generalizations with respect to +the precise influence of these conditions, because, so far as the writer +is aware, the psychology of isolation has not been worked out. But two +or three conclusions seem to be admissible, and for that matter rather +generally accepted. + +The well-known conservatism of the farming class is doubtless largely +due to class isolation. Habits, ideas, traditions, and ideals have long +life in the rural community. Changes come slowly. There is a tendency to +tread the well-worn paths. The farmer does not easily keep in touch with +rapid modern development, unless the movements or methods directly +affect him. Physical agencies which improve social conditions, such as +electric lights, telephones, and pavements, come to the city first. The +atmosphere of the country speaks peace and quiet. Nature's routine of +sunshine and storm, of summer and winter, encourages routine and +repetition in the man who works with her. + +A complement of this rural conservatism, which at first thought seems a +paradox, but which probably grows out of these same conditions of +isolation, is the intense radicalism of a rural community when once it +breaks away from its moorings. Many farmers are unduly suspicious of +others' motives; yet the same people often succumb to the wiles of the +charlatan, whether medical or political. Farmers are usually +conservative in politics and intensely loyal to party; but the Populist +movement indicates the tendency to extremes when the old allegiance is +left behind. Old methods of farming may be found alongside +ill-considered attempts to raise new crops or to utilize untried +machines. + +Other effects of rural isolation are seen in a class provincialism that +is hard to eradicate, and in the development of minds less alert to +seize business advantages and less far-sighted than are developed by the +intense industrial life of the town. There is time to brood over wrongs, +real and imaginary. Personal prejudices often grow to be rank and +coarse-fibered. Neighborhood feuds are not uncommon and are often +virulent. Leadership is made difficult and sometimes impossible. It is +easy to fall into personal habits that may mark off the farmer from +other classes of similar intelligence, and that bar him from his +rightful social place. + +It would, however, be distinctly unfair to the farm community if we did +not emphasize some of the advantages that grow out of the rural mode of +life. Farmers have time to think, and the typical American farmer is a +man who has thought much and often deeply. A spirit of sturdy +independence is generated, and freedom of will and of action is +encouraged. Family life is nowhere so educative as in the country. The +whole family co-operates for common ends, and in its individual members +are bred the qualities of industry, patience, and perseverance. The +manual work of the schools is but a makeshift for the old-fashioned +training of the country-grown boy. Country life is an admirable +preparation for the modern industrial and professional career. + +Nevertheless, rural isolation is a real evil. Present-day living is so +distinctively social, progress is so dependent upon social agencies, +social development is so rapid, that if the farmer is to keep his status +he must be fully in step with the rest of the army. He must secure the +social view-point. The disadvantages of rural isolation are largely in +the realm of the social relations, its advantages mostly on the +individual and moral side. Farm life makes a strong individual; it is a +serious menace to the achievement of class power. + +A cure for isolation sometimes suggested is the gathering of the farmers +into villages. This remedy, however, is of doubtful value. In the first +place, the scheme is not immediately practicable. About three and +one-half billions of dollars are now invested in farm buildings, and it +will require some motive more powerful than that inspired by academic +logic to transfer, even gradually, this investment to village groups. +Moreover, it is possible to dispute the desirability of the remedy. The +farm village at best must be a mere hamlet. It can secure for the farmer +very few of the urban advantages he may want, except that of permitting +closer daily intercourse between families. And it is questionable if the +petty society of such a village can compensate for the freedom and +purity of rural family life now existing. It may even be asserted with +some degree of positiveness that the small village, on the moral and +intellectual sides, is distinctly inferior to the isolated farm home. + +At the present time rural isolation in America is being overcome by the +development of better means of communication among farmers who still +live on their farms. So successful are these means of communication +proving that we cannot avoid the conclusion that herein lies the remedy. +Improved wagon roads, the rural free mail delivery, the farm telephone, +trolley lines through country districts, are bringing about a positive +revolution in country living. They are curing the evils of isolation, +without in the slightest degree robbing the farm of its manifest +advantages for family life. The farmers are being welded into a more +compact society. They are being nurtured to greater alertness of mind, +to greater keenness of observation, and the foundations are being laid +for vastly enlarged social activities. The problem now is to extend +these advantages to every rural community--in itself a task of huge +proportions. If this can be done and isolation can be reduced to a +minimum, the solution of all the other rural social problems will become +vastly easier. + + +FARMERS' ORGANIZATION + +Organization is one of the pressing social problems that American +farmers have to face. The importance of the question is intrinsic, +because of the general social necessity for co-operation which +characterizes modern life. Society is becoming consciously +self-directive. The immediate phase of this growing self-direction lies +in the attempts of various social groups to organize their powers for +group advantage. And if, as seems probable, this group activity is to +remain a dominant feature of social progress, even in a fairly coherent +society, it is manifest that there will result more or less of +competition among groups. + +The farming class, if at all ambitious for group influence, can hardly +avoid this tendency to organization. Farmers, indeed more than any +other class, need to organize. Their isolation makes thorough +organization especially imperative. And the argument for co-operation +gains force from the fact that relatively the agricultural population is +declining. In the old days farmers ruled because of mere mass. That is +no longer possible. The naïve statement that "farmers must organize +because other classes are organizing" is really good social philosophy. + +In the group competition just referred to there is a tendency for class +interests to be put above general social welfare. This is a danger to be +avoided in organization, not an argument against it. So the farmers' +organization should be guarded, at this point, by adherence to the +principle that organization must not only develop class power, but must +be so directed as to permit the farmers to lend the full strength of +their class to general social progress. + +Organization thus becomes a test of class efficiency, and consequently a +prerequisite for solving the farm problem. Can the farming class secure +and maintain a fairly complete organization? Can it develop efficient +leaders? Can it announce, in sound terms, its proposed group policy? Can +it lend the group influence to genuine social progress? If so, the +organization of farmers becomes a movement of pre-eminent importance. + +Organization, moreover, is a powerful educational force. It arouses +discussion of fundamental questions, diffuses knowledge, gives practice +in public affairs, trains individuals in executive work, and, in fine, +stimulates, as nothing else can, a class which is in special need of +social incentive. + +Organization is, however, difficult of accomplishment. While it would +take us too far afield to discuss the history of farmers' organizations +in America, we may briefly suggest some of the difficulties involved. +For forty years the question has been a prominent one among the farmers, +and these years have seen the rise and decline of several large +associations. There have been apparently two great factors contributing +to the downfall of these organizations. The first was a misapprehension, +on the part of the farmers, of the feasibility of organizing themselves +as a political phalanx; the second, a sentimental belief in the +possibilities of business co-operation among farmers, more especially in +lines outside their vocation. There is no place for class politics in +America. There are some things legislation cannot cure. There are +serious limitations to co-operative endeavor. It took many hard +experiences for our farmers to learn these truths. But back of all lie +some inherent difficulties, as, for instance, the number of people +involved, their isolation, sectional interests, ingrained habits of +independent action, of individual initiative, of suspicion of others' +motives. There is often lack of perspective, and unwillingness to invest +in a procedure that does not promise immediate returns. The mere fact of +failure has discredited the organization idea. There is lack of +leadership; for the farm industry, while it often produces men of strong +mind, keen perception, resolute will, does not, as a rule, develop +executive capacity for large enterprises. + +It is frequently asserted that farmers are the only class that has not +organized. This is not strictly true. The difficulties enumerated are +real difficulties and have seriously retarded farm organization. But if +the progress made is not satisfactory, it is at least encouraging. On +the purely business side, over five thousand co-operative societies +among American farmers have been reported. In co-operative buying of +supplies, co-operative selling of products, and co-operative insurance +the volume of transactions reaches large figures. A host of societies +of a purely educational nature exists among stock-breeders, +fruit-growers, dairymen. It is true that no one general organization of +farmers, embracing a large proportion of the class, has as yet been +perfected. The nearest approach to it is the Grange, which, contrary to +a popular notion, is in a prosperous condition, with a really large +influence upon the social, financial, educational, and legislative +interests of the farming class. It has had a steady growth during the +past ten years, and is a quiet but powerful factor in rural progress. +The Grange is perhaps too conservative in its administrative policy. It +has not at least succeeded in converting to its fold the farmers of the +great Mississippi Valley. But it has workable machinery, it disavows +partisan politics and selfish class interests, and it subordinates +financial benefits, while emphasizing educational and broadly political +advantages. It seems fair to interpret the principles of the Grange as +wholly in line with the premise of this paper, that the farmers need to +preserve their status, politically, industrially, and socially, and that +organization is one of the fundamental methods they must use. The +Grange, therefore, deserves to succeed, and indeed is succeeding. + +The field of agricultural organization is an extensive one. But if the +farm problem is to be solved satisfactorily, the American farmers must +first secure reasonably complete organization. + + +RURAL EDUCATION + +It is hardly necessary to assert that the education of that portion of +the American people who live upon the land involves a question of the +greatest significance. The subject naturally divides itself into two +phases, one of which may be designated as rural education proper, the +other as agricultural education. Rural education has to do with the +education of people, more especially of the young, who live under rural +conditions; agricultural education aims to prepare men and women for the +specific vocation of agriculture. The rural school typifies the first; +the agricultural school, the second. Rural education is but a section of +the general school question; agricultural education is a branch of +technical training. These two phases of the education of the farm +population meet at many points, they must work in harmony, and together +they form a distinct educational problem. + +The serious difficulties in the rural school question are perhaps +three: first, to secure a modern school, in efficiency somewhat +comparable to the town school, without unduly increasing the school tax; +second, so to enrich the curriculum and so to expand the functions of +the school that the school shall become a vital and coherent part of the +community life, on the one hand translating the rural environment into +terms of character and mental efficiency, and on the other hand serving +perfectly as a stepping-stone to the city schools and to urban careers; +third, to provide adequate high-school facilities in the rural +community. + +The centralization of district schools and the transportation of pupils +will probably prove to be more nearly a solution of all these +difficulties than will any other one scheme. The plan permits the +payment of higher wages for teachers and ought to secure better +instruction; it permits the employment of special teachers, as for +nature-study or agriculture; it increases the efficiency of +superintendence; it costs but little, if any, more than the district +system; it leaves the school amid rural surroundings, while introducing +into the schoolroom itself a larger volume, so to speak, of +world-atmosphere; it contains possibilities for community service; it +can easily be expanded into a high school of reputable grade. + +There are two dangers, both somewhat grave, likely to arise from an +urgent campaign for centralization. Even if the movement makes as great +progress as could reasonably be expected, for a generation to come a +large share, if not a major portion, of rural pupils will still be +taught in the small, isolated, district school; there is danger that +this district school may be neglected. Moreover, increased school +machinery always invites undue reliance upon machine-like methods. +Centralization permits, but does not guarantee, greater efficiency. A +system like this one must be vitalized by constant and close touch with +the life and needs and aspirations of the rural community itself. + +Wherever centralization is not adopted, the consolidation of two or +three schools--a modified form of centralization--may prove helpful. +Where the district school still persists, there are one or two +imperative requirements. Teachers must have considerably higher wages +and longer tenure. There must be more efficient supervision. The state +must assist in supporting the school, although only in part. The small +schools must be correlated with some form of high school. The last +point is of great importance because of the comparative absence in +country communities of opportunity near at hand for _good_ high-school +training. + +Agricultural education is distinctively technical, not in the restricted +sense of mere technique, or even of applied science, but in the sense +that it must be frankly vocational. It has to do with the preparation of +men and women for the business of farming and for life in the rural +community. + +Agricultural education should begin in the primary school. In this +school the point of view, however, should be broadly pedagogical rather +than immediately vocational. Fortunately, the wise teaching of +nature-study, the training of pupils to know and to love nature, the +constant illustrations from the rural environment, the continual appeal +to personal observation and experience, absolute loyalty to the farm +point of view, are not only sound pedagogy, but form the best possible +background for future vocational study. Whether we call this early work +"nature-study" or call it "agriculture" matters less than that the +fundamental principle be recognized. It must first of all _educate_. The +greatest difficulty in introducing such work into the primary school is +to secure properly equipped teachers. + +Perhaps the most stupendous undertaking in agricultural education is the +adequate development of secondary education in agriculture. The +overwhelming majority of young people who secure any agricultural +schooling whatever must get it in institutions that academically are of +secondary grade. This is a huge task. If developed to supply existing +needs, it will call for an enormous expenditure of money and for the +most careful planning. From the teaching view-point it is a difficult +problem. Modern agriculture is based upon the sciences; it will not do, +therefore, to establish schools in the mere art of farming. But these +agricultural high schools must deal with pupils who are comparatively +immature, and who almost invariably have had no preparation in science. +Nor should the courses at these schools be ultra-technical. They are to +prepare men and women for life on the farm--men and women who are to +lead in rural development, and who must get some inkling at least of the +real farm question and its solution. The agricultural school, therefore, +presents a problem of great difficulty. + +A perennial question in agricultural education is: What is the function +of the agricultural college? We have not time to trace the history of +these colleges, nor to elaborate the various views relative to their +mission. But let us for a moment discuss their proper function in the +light of the proposition that the preservation of the farmers' status is +the real farm problem; for the college can be justified only as it finds +its place among the social agencies helpful in the solution of the farm +question. + +In so far as the agricultural college, through its experiment station or +otherwise, is an organ of research, it should carry its investigations +into the economic and sociological fields, as well as pursue experiments +in soil fertility and animal nutrition. + +In the teaching of students, the agricultural college will continue the +important work of training men for agricultural research, agricultural +teaching, and expert supervision of various agricultural enterprises. +But the college should put renewed emphasis upon its ability to send +well-trained men to the farms, there to live their lives, there to find +their careers, and there to lead in the movements for rural progress. A +decade ago it was not easy to find colleges which believed that this +could be done, and some agricultural educators have even disavowed such +a purpose as a proper object of the colleges. But the strongest +agricultural colleges today have pride in just such a purpose. And why +not? We not only need men thus trained as leaders in every rural +community, but, if the farming business cannot be made to offer a career +to a reasonable number of college-trained men, it is a sure sign that +only by the most herculean efforts can the farmers maintain their status +as a class. If agriculture must be turned over wholly to the untrained +and to the half-trained, if it cannot satisfy the ambition of strong, +well-educated men and women, its future, from the social point of view, +is indeed gloomy. + +The present-day course of study in the agricultural college does not, +however, fully meet this demand for rural leadership. The farm problem +has been regarded as a technical question, and a technical training has +been offered the student. The agricultural college, therefore, needs +"socializing." Agricultural economics and rural sociology should occupy +a large place in the curriculum. The men who go from the college to the +farm should appreciate the significance of the agricultural question, +and should be trained to organize their forces for genuine rural +progress. The college should, as far as possible, become the leader in +the whole movement for solving the farm problem. + +The farm home has not come in for its share of attention in existing +schemes of agricultural education. The kitchen and the dining-room have +as much to gain from science as have the dairy and the orchard. The +inspiration of vocational knowledge must be the possession of her who is +the entrepreneur of the family, the home-maker. The agricultural +colleges through their departments of domestic science--better, of +"home-making"--should inaugurate a comprehensive movement for carrying +to the farm home a larger measure of the advantages which modern science +is showering upon humanity. + +The agricultural college must also lead in a more adequate development +of extension teaching. Magnificent work has already been done through +farmers' institutes, reading courses, co-operative experiments, +demonstrations, and correspondence. But the field is so immense, the +number of people involved so enormous, the difficulties of reaching them +so many, that it offers a genuine problem, and one of peculiar +significance, not only because of the generally recognized need of +adult education, but also because of the isolation of the farmers. + +It should be said that in no line of rural betterment has so much +progress been made in America as in agricultural education. Merely to +describe the work that is being done through nature-study and +agriculture in the public schools, through agricultural schools, through +our magnificent agricultural colleges, through farmers' institutes, and +especially through the experiment stations and the federal Department of +Agriculture in agricultural research and in the distribution of the best +agricultural information--merely to inventory these movements properly +would take the time available for this discussion. What has been said +relative to agricultural education is less in way of criticism of +existing methods than in way of suggestion as to fundamental needs. + + +THE ETHICAL AND RELIGIOUS PROBLEM + +Wide generalizations as to the exact moral situation in the rural +community are impossible. Conditions have not been adequately studied. +It is probably safe to say that the country environment is extremely +favorable for pure family life, for temperance, and for bodily and +mental health. To picture the country a paradise is, however, mere +silliness. There are in the country, as elsewhere, evidences of +vulgarity in language, of coarseness in thought, of social impurity, of +dishonesty in business. There is room in the country for all the ethical +teaching that can be given. + +Nor is it easy to discuss the country church question. Conditions vary +in different parts of the Union, and no careful study has been made of +the problem. As a general proposition, it may be said that there are too +many churches in the country, and that these are illy supported. +Consequently, they have in many cases inferior ministers. Sectarianism +is probably more divisive than in the city, not only because of the +natural conservatism of the people and a natural disinclination to +change their views, but because sectarian quarrels are perhaps more +easily fomented and less easily harmonized than anywhere else. Moreover, +in the city a person can usually find a denomination to his liking. In +the country, even with the present overchurched condition, this is +difficult. + +The ideal solution of the country church problem is to have in each +rural community one strong church adequately supported, properly +equipped, ministered to by an able man--a church which leads in +community service. The path to the realization of such an ideal is rough +and thorny. Church federation, however, promises large results in this +direction and should be especially encouraged. + +Whatever outward form the solution of the country church question may +take, there seem to be several general principles involved in a +satisfactory attempt to meet the issue. In the first place, the country +church offers a problem by itself, socially considered. Methods +successful in the city may not succeed in the country. The country +church question must then be studied thoroughly and on the ground. + +Again, the same principle of financial aid to be utilized in the case of +the schools must be invoked here. The wealth of the whole church must +contribute to the support of the church everywhere. The strong must help +the weak. The city must help the country. But this aid must be given by +co-operation, not by condescension. The demand cannot be met by home +missionary effort nor by church-building contributions; the principle +goes far deeper than that. Some device must be secured which binds +together the whole church, along denominational lines if must be, for a +full development of church work in every community in the land. + +Furthermore, there is supreme necessity for adding dignity to the +country parish. Too often at present the rural parish is regarded either +as a convenient laboratory for the clerical novice, or as an asylum for +the decrepit or inefficient. The country parish must be a parish for our +ablest and strongest. The ministry of the most Christlike must be to the +hill-towns of Galilee as well as to Jerusalem. + +There is still another truth that the country church cannot afford to +ignore. The rural church question is peculiarly interwoven with the +industrial and social problems of the farm. A declining agriculture +cannot foster a growing church. An active church can render especially +strong service to a farm community, in its influence upon the religious +life, the home life, the educational life, the social life, and even +upon the industrial life. Nowhere else are these various phases of +society's activities so fully members one of another as in the country. +The country church should co-operate with other rural social agencies. +This means that the country pastor should assume a certain leadership in +movements for rural progress. He is splendidly fitted, by the nature of +his work and by his position in the community, to co-operate with +earnest farmers for the social and economic, as well as the moral and +spiritual, upbuilding of the farm community. But he must know the farm +problem. Here is an opportunity for theological seminaries: let them +make rural sociology a required subject. And, better, here is a +magnificent field of labor for the right kind of young men. The country +pastorate may thus prove to be, as it ought to be, a place of honor and +rare privilege. In any event, the country church, to render its proper +service, not alone must minister to the individual soul, but must throw +itself into the struggle for rural betterment, must help solve the farm +problem. + + +FEDERATION OF FORCES + +The suggestion that the country church should ally itself with other +agencies of rural progress may be carried a step farther. Rural social +forces should be federated. The object of such federation is to +emphasize the real nature of the farm problem, to interest many people +in its solution, and to secure the co-operation of the various rural +social agencies, each of which has its sphere, but also its limitations. +The method of federation is to bring together, for conference and for +active work, farmers--especially representatives of farmers' +organizations, agricultural educators, rural school-teachers and +supervisors, country clergymen, country editors; in fact, all who have a +genuine interest in the farm problem. Thus will come clearer views of +the questions at issue, broader plans for reform, greater incentive to +action, and more rapid progress. + + +CONCLUSION + +In this brief analysis of the social problems of American farmers it has +been possible merely to outline those aspects of the subject that seem +to be fundamental. It is hoped that the importance of each problem has +been duly emphasized, that the wisest methods of progress have been +indicated, and that the relation of the various social agencies to the +main question has been clearly brought out. Let us leave the subject by +emphasizing once more the character of the ultimate farm problem. This +problem may be stated more concretely, if not more accurately, than was +done at the opening of the paper, by saying that the ideal of rural +betterment is to preserve upon our farms the typical American farmer. +The American farmer has been essentially a middle-class man. It is this +type we must maintain. Agriculture must be made to yield returns in +wealth, in opportunity, in contentment, in social position, sufficient +to attract and to hold to it a class of intelligent, educated American +citizens. This is an end vital to the preservation of American +democratic ideals. It is a result that will not achieve itself; social +agencies must be invoked for its accomplishment. It demands the +intelligent and earnest co-operation of all who love the soil and who +seek America's permanent welfare. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[1] The material for this chapter is taken from an address entitled +"Social Problems of American Farmers," which was read before the +Congress of Arts and Science, section of The Rural Community, at St. +Louis, September, 1904. + + + + +THE OUTLOOK + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE EXPANSION OF FARM LIFE + + +Narrowness is perhaps the charge most often brought against American +farm life. To a certain extent this charge may be just, though the +comparisons that usually lead up to the conclusion do not always +discriminate. It must be remembered that there are degrees of +desirability in farm life, and that at the least there are multitudes of +rural communities where bright flowers still bloom, where the shade is +refreshing, and the waters are sweet. But, granting for the time that in +the main rural life is less pleasant, less rich, less expansive than +city life, we shall urge that this era of restriction is rapidly drawing +to a close. There are forces at work that are molding rural life by new +standards, and the old régime is passing. We shall soon be able to say +of the country that "old things have passed away; all things have become +new." + +This statement may seem too optimistic to some who can marshal an array +of facts to prove that bigotry, narrowness, and the whole family of ills +begotten by isolation still thrive in the country. It is true that our +picture is not all of rose tints. But what of that? If it were not true +there would be no farm problem; the country would have to convert the +town. The fact remains that rural life is undergoing a rapid expansion. +Materially, socially, and intellectually, the farmer is broadening. Old +prejudices are fading. The plowman is no longer content to keep his eye +forever on the furrow. The revival has been in slow progress for some +time and has not yet reached its zenith; indeed, the movement is but +well under way. For while the new day came long ago to some rural +communities and they are basking in a noonday sun, yet in far too many +localities the faintest gray of dawn is all that rouses hope. + +The fundamental change that is taking place is the gradual adoption of +the new agriculture. "Book-farmin'" is still decried, and many +"perfessers" have a rocky road to travel in their attempts to guide the +masses through the labyrinth of scientific knowledge that has been +constructed during the last decade or two. This difficulty has not been +wholly the farmer's fault--the scientist would often have been more +persuasive had his wings been clipped. But there is a decided "getting +together" nowadays--the farmer and the man of science have at last +found common ground. And while the pendulum of agricultural prosperity +shall always swing to and fro, there are, to change the figure, reasons +for believing that an increasing number of farmers have rooted the tree +of permanent success. + +To enumerate some of these reasons: (1) Thousands of farmers are farming +on a scientific basis. They use the results of soil and fertilizer +analysis; they cultivate, not to kill weeds so much as to conserve +moisture; horticulturists spray their trees according to formulas laid +down by experimenters; dairymen use the "Babcock test" for determining +the fat content of milk; stock-feeders utilize the scientists' feeding +rations. (2) The number of specialists among farmers is increasing. This +is a sign of progress surely. More and more farmers are coming to push a +single line of work. (3) New methods are being rapidly adopted. Fifteen +years ago hardly a fruit-grower sprayed for insect and fungus pests; +today it is rare to find one who does not. The co-operative creamery has +not only revolutionized the character of the butter product made by the +factory system, but it has set the pace for thousands of private +dairymen who are now making first-class dairy butter. (4) In general +the whole idea of _intensive_ farming is gaining ground. + +This specialization, or intensification, of agriculture makes a new +demand, upon those who pursue it, in the way of mental and business +training. This training is being furnished by a multitude of agencies, +and the younger generation of farmers is taking proper advantage of the +opportunities thus offered. What are some of these regular agencies? (1) +An alert farm press, containing contributions from both successful +farmers and scientific workers. (2) Farmers' institutes, which are +traveling schools of technical instruction for farmers. (3) The +bulletins issued by the government experiment stations located in every +state, and by the federal Department of Agriculture. (4) Special winter +courses (of from two to twelve weeks), offered at nearly all the +agricultural colleges of the country, for instruction in practical +agriculture. (5) Regular college courses in agriculture at these same +colleges. (6) Extension instruction by lectures and correspondence. (7) +A growing book literature of technical agriculture. (8) More encouraging +than all else is the spirit of inquiry that prevails among farmers the +country over--the recognition that there is a basis of science in +agriculture. No stronger pleas for the advancement of agricultural +education can be found than those that have recently been formulated by +farmers themselves. + +If this regeneration of farm life were wholly material it would be worth +noting; for it promises a prosperity built on foundations sufficiently +strong to withstand ordinary storms. Yet this is but a chapter of the +story. Not only are our American farmers making a study of their +business, bringing to it the resources of advancing knowledge and good +mental training, and hence deriving from it the strong, alert mental +character that comes to all business men who pursue equally intelligent +methods, but the farmers are by no means neglecting their duty to +broaden along general intellectual lines. Farmers have always been +interested in politics; there is no reason to think that their interest +is declining. The Grange and other organizations keep their attention on +current problems. Traveling libraries, school libraries, and Grange +libraries are giving new opportunities for general reading, and the +farmer's family is not slow to accept the chance. Low prices for +magazines and family papers bring to these periodicals an increasing +list from the rural offices. Rural free mail delivery promises, among +many other results of vast importance, to enlarge the circulation of +daily papers among farmers not less than tenfold. + +The really great lesson that farmers are rapidly learning is to work +together. They have been the last class to organize, and jealousy, +distrust, and isolation have made such organizations as they have had +comparatively ineffective. But gradually they are learning to +compromise, to work in harmony, to sink merely personal views, to trust +their own leaders, to keep troth in financially co-operative projects. +There will be no Farmers' Party organized; but the higher politics is +gaining among farmers, and more and more independent voting may be +expected from the rural precincts. Farmers are learning to pool such of +their interests as can be furthered by legislation. + +It is also true that the whole aspect of social life in the country is +undergoing a profound evolutionary movement. Farmers are meeting one +another more frequently than they used to. They have more picnics and +holidays. They travel more. They go sight-seeing. They take advantage of +excursions. Their social life is more mobile than formerly. Farmers +have more comforts and luxuries than ever before. They dress better +than they did. More of them ride in carriages than formerly. They buy +neater and better furniture. The newer houses are prettier and more +comfortable than their predecessors. Bicycles and cameras are not +uncommon in the rural home. Rural telephone exchanges are relatively a +new thing, but the near future will see the telephone a part of the +ordinary furniture of the rural household; while electric car lines +promise to be the final link in the chain of advantages that is rapidly +transforming rural life--robbing it of its isolation, giving it balance +and poise, softening its hard outlines, and in general achieving its +thorough regeneration. + +This sketch is no fancy tale. The movement described is genuine and +powerful. The busy city world may not note the signs of progress. +Well-minded philanthropists may feel that the rural districts are in +special need of their services. Even to the watchers on the walls there +is much of discouragement in the advancement that _isn't_ being made. +Yet it needs no prophet's eye to see that a vast change for the better +in rural life and conditions is now in progress. + +No student of these conditions expects or desires that the evolution +shall be Acadian in its results. It is to be hoped indeed that country +sweets shall not lose their delights; that the farmer himself may find +in his surroundings spiritual and mental ambrosia. But what is wanted, +and what is rapidly coming, is the breaking down of those barriers which +have so long differentiated country from urban life; the extinction of +that social ostracism which has been the farmer's fate; the obliteration +of that line which for many a youth has marked the bounds of +opportunity: in fact, the creation of a rural society whose advantages, +rewards, prerogatives, chances for service, means of culture, and +pleasures are representative of the best and sanest life that the +accumulated wisdom of the ages can prescribe for mankind. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE NEW FARMER + + +All farmers may be divided into three classes. There is the "old" +farmer, there is the "new" farmer, and there is the "mossback." The old +farmer represents the ancient régime. The new farmer is the modern +business agriculturist. The mossback is a mediaeval survival. The old +farmer was in his day a new farmer; he was "up with the times," as the +times then were. The new farmer is merely the worthy son of a noble +sire; he is the modern embodiment of the old farmer's progressiveness. +The mossback is the man who tries to use the old methods under the new +conditions; he is not "up" with the present times, but "back" with the +old times. Though he lives and moves in the present, he really has his +being in the past. + +The old farmer is the man who conquered the American continent. His axe +struck the crown from the monarchs of the wood, and the fertile farms of +Ohio are the kingdom he created. He broke the sod of the rich prairies, +and the tasseling cornfields of Iowa tell the story of his deeds. He +hitched his plow to the sun, and his westward lengthening furrows fill +the world's granary. + +The new farmer has his largest conquests yet to make. But he has put his +faith in the strong arm of science; he has at his hand the commercial +mechanism of a world of business. He believes he will win because he is +in league with the ongoing forces of our civilization. + +The mossback cannot win, because he prefers a flintlock to a Mauser. He +has his eyes upon the ground, and uses snails instead of stars for +horses. + +The old farmer was a pioneer, and he had all the courage, enterprise, +and resourcefulness of the pioneer. He was virile, above all things +else. He owned and controlled everything in sight. He was a +state-builder. Half a century ago, in the Middle West, the strong men +and the influential families were largely farmers. Even professional men +owned and managed farms, frequently living upon them. The smell of the +soil sweetened musty law books, deodorized the doctor's den, and floated +as incense above the church altars. + +The new farmer lives in a day when the nation is not purely an +agricultural nation, but is also a manufacturing and a trading nation. +He belongs no longer to the dominant class, so far as commercial and +social and political influence are concerned. But none of these things +move him. For he realizes that out of this seeming decline of +agriculture grow his best opportunities. He discards pioneer methods +because pioneering is not now an effective art. + +The mossback sees perhaps clearly enough these changes, but he does not +understand their meaning, nor does he know how to meet them. He is +dazzled by the romantic halo of the good old times, dumfounded by the +electric energy of the present, discouraged and distracted by the +pressure of forces that crush his hopes and stifle his strength. + +Economically, the old farmer was not a business man, but a barterer. The +rule of barter still survives in the country grocery where butter and +eggs are traded for sugar and salt. The old farmer was industrially +self-sufficient. He did not farm on a commercial basis. He raised apples +for eating and for cider, not for market--there was no apple market. He +had very little ready money, he bought and sold few products. He traded. +Even his grain, which afterward became the farmer's great cash crop, was +raised in small quantities and ground at the nearest mill--not for +export, but for a return migration to the family flour-barrel. + +The new farmer has always existed--because he is the old farmer growing. +He has kept pace with our industrial evolution. When the régime of +barter passed away, he ceased to barter. When the world's market became +a fact, he raised wheat for the world's market. As agriculture became a +business, he became a business man. As agricultural science began to +contribute to the art of farming, he studied applied science. As +industrial education developed, he founded and patronized institutions +for agricultural education. As alertness and enterprise began to be +indispensable in commercial activity, he grew alert and enterprising. + +The mossback is the man who has either misread the signs of the times, +or who has not possessed the speed demanded in the two-minute class. He +is the old farmer gone to seed. He tries to fit the old methods to the +new régime. + +But it is not sufficient to picture the new farmer. You must explain +him. What is it that makes the new farmer? Who is he? What are his +tools? In the first place, you cannot explain the new farmer unless you +know the old farmer. You cannot have the new farmer unless you also +have the mossback. The new farmer is a comparative person, as it were. +You have to define him in terms of the mossback. The contrast is not +between the old farmer and the new, for that is merely a question of +relative conditions in different epochs of time. The contrast is between +the new farmer and the mossback, for that is a question of men and of +their relative efficiency as members of the industrial order. Then, of +course, you must observe the individual traits that characterize the new +farmer, such as keenness, business instinct, readiness to adopt new +methods, and, in fact, all the qualities that make a man a success today +in any calling. For the new farmer, in respect to his personal +qualities, is not a sport, a phenomenon. He does not stand out as a +distinct and peculiar specimen. He is a successful American citizen who +grows corn instead of making steel rails. + +But you have not yet explained the new farmer. These personal traits do +not explain him. It may be possible to explain an individual and his +success by calling attention to his characteristics, and yet you cannot +completely analyze him and his career unless you understand the +conditions under which he works--the industrial and social environment. +Much less can you explain a class of people by describing their personal +characteristics. You must reach out into the great current of life that +is about them, and discern the direction and power of that current. + +Now, the conditions that tend to make the new farmer possible may be +grouped in an old-fashioned way under two heads. In the old scientific +phrases the two forces that make the new farmer are the "struggle for +life" and "environment," or, to use other words, competition and +opportunity. + +Competition has pressed severely upon the farmer, competition at home +and competition from other countries. At one time the heart of the +wheat-growing industry of this country was near Rochester, N. Y., in the +Genesee Valley; but the canal and the railway soon made possible the +occupation of the great granary of the west. A multitude of ambitious +young men soon took possession of that granary, and the flour-mills were +moved from Rochester to Minneapolis. This is an old story, but the same +forces are still at work. There has been developed a world-market. The +sheep of the Australian bush have become competitors of the flocks that +feed upon the green Vermont mountains and the Ohio hills. The plains of +Argentina grow wheat for London. Russia, Siberia, and India pour a +constant stream of golden grain into the industrial centers of Western +Europe, and the price of American wheat is fixed in London. These forces +have produced still another kind of competition; namely, specialization +among farmers. Localities particularly adapted to special crops are +becoming centers where skill and intelligence bring the industry to its +height. The truck-farming of the South Atlantic region, the fruit +growing of western Michigan, the butter factories of Wisconsin and +Minnesota, have crowded almost to suffocation the small market-gardener +of the northern town, the man with a dozen peach trees, and the farmer +who keeps two cows and trades the surplus butter for calico. These +things have absolutely forced progress upon the farmer. It is indeed a +"struggle for life." Out of it comes the "survival of the fittest," and +the fittest is the new farmer. + +But along with competition has come opportunity. Indeed, out of these +very facts that have made competition so strenuous spring the most +marvelous opportunities for the progressive farmer. Specialization +brings out the best that there is in the locality and the man. It gives +a chance to apply science to farming. Our transportation system permits +the peach growers of Grand Rapids to place their crops at a profit in +the markets of Buffalo and Pittsburg; the rich orchards and vineyards of +Southern California find their chief outlet in the cities of the +manufacturing Northeast--three thousand miles away. During the forty +years, from 1860, the exports of wheat from this country increased from +four million bushels annually to one hundred and forty million bushels; +of corn, from three and one-third million bushels to one hundred and +seventy-five million bushels; of beef products, from twenty million +pounds to three hundred and seventy million pounds; of pork products, +from ninety-eight million pounds to seventeen hundred million pounds. +And not only do the grain and stock farmers find this outlet for their +surplus products, but we are beginning to ship abroad high-grade fruit +and first-class dairy products in considerable quantities. Low rates of +freight, modern methods of refrigeration, express freight trains, fast +freight steamers--the whole machinery of the commercial and financial +world are at the service of the new farmer. Science, also, has found a +world of work in ministering to the needs of agriculture, and in a +hundred different ways the new farmer finds helps that have sprung up +from the broadcast sowing of the hand of science. + +But perhaps even more remarkable opportunities come to the new farmer in +those social agencies that tend to remove the isolation of the country; +that assist in educating the farmer broadly; that give farmers as a +class more influence in legislature and congress, and that, in fine, +make rural life more worth the living. The new farmer cannot be +explained until one is somewhat familiar with the character of these +rural social agencies. They have already been enumerated and classified +in a previous chapter; they will be more fully described in subsequent +chapters. + +It must not be supposed that every successful farmer is necessarily a +supporter of all of these social agencies. He may be a prosperous farmer +just because he is good at the art of farming, or because he is a keen +business man. But more and more he is coming to see that these things +are opportunities that he cannot afford to disregard. Indeed, some of +these institutions are largely the creation of the new farmer himself. +He is using them as tools to fashion a better rural social structure. + +But they also fashion him. They serve to explain him, in great part. +Competition inspires the farmer to his best efforts. The opportunity +offered by these new and growing advantages gives him the implements +wherewith to make his rightful niche in the social and industrial +system. + +It would be erroneous to suppose that the new farmer is a _rara avis_. +He is not. The spirit pervading the ranks of farmers is rapidly +changing. We have been in a state of transition in agriculture. But the +farther shore has been reached and the bridge is possible. The army of +rural advancement is being recruited with great rapidity. The advance +guard is more than a body of scouts, it is an effective brigade. + +I want also to make a plea for the mossback. He must not be condemned +utterly. Remember that competition among farmers has been intense; that +rural environment breeds conservatism. Remember also that the farmer +cannot change his methods as rapidly as can some other business men. +Remember, too, that there is comparatively small chance for speculation +in agriculture; that large aggregates of capital cannot be collected for +farming, and consequently, that the approved means for securing immense +wealth, great industrial advancement, and huge enterprises are nearly +absent in agriculture. Remember that the voices calling from the city +deplete the country of many good farmers as well as of many poor ones. +Moreover, there are many men on farms who perhaps don't care for +farming, but who for some reason cannot get away. On the farm a man need +not starve; he can make a livelihood. Doubtless this simple fact is +responsible for a multitude of mossbacks. They can live without +strenuous endeavor. Possibly a good many of us are strenuous because we +are pushed into it. So I have a good deal of sympathy for the mossback, +and a mild sort of scorn for some of his critics, who probably could not +do any better than he is doing if they essayed the gentle art of +agriculture. I also have sympathy for the mossback particularly because +he is the man that needs attention. The new farmer takes the initiative. +He patronizes these opportunities that we have been talking about. But +the mossback, because he is discouraged, or because he is ignorant, or +perhaps merely because he is conservative, takes little interest in +these things. About one farmer in ten belongs to some sort of farmers' +association. Thousands of farmers do not take an agricultural paper, and +perhaps millions of them have not read an agricultural book. Right here +comes in another fact. Every "new" farmer when full grown competes with +every mossback. The educated farmer makes it still harder for the +ignorant farmer to progress. + +The future of the American farmer is one of the most pregnant social +problems with which we have to deal. There is indeed an issue involved +in the success of the new farmer that is still more fundamental than any +yet mentioned. The old farmer had a social standing that made him +essentially a middle-class man. He was a landholder, he was independent, +he was successful. He was the typical American citizen. The old farmer +was father to the best blood of America. His sons and his sons' sons +have answered to the roll call of our country's warriors, statesmen, +writers, captains of industry. + +Can the new farmer maintain the same relative social status? And if he +can, is he to be an aristocrat, a landlord, a captain of industry, and +to bear rule over the mossback? And is the tribe of mossbacks destined +to increase and become a caste of permanent tenants or peasants? Is the +future American farmer to be the typical new farmer of the present, or +are we traveling toward a social condition in which the tillers of the +soil will be underlings? Is there coming a time when the "man with the +hoe" will be the true picture of the American farmer, with a low +standard of living, without ideals, without a chance for progress? + +We must eliminate the mossback. It is to be done largely by education +and by co-operation. There must be a campaign for rural progress. There +must be a union of the country school teacher, of the agricultural +college professor, of the rural pastor, of the country editor, with the +farmers themselves, for the production of an increased crop of new +farmers. Anything that makes farm life more worth living, anything that +banishes rural isolation, anything that dignifies the business of +farming and makes it more prosperous, anything that broadens the +farmer's horizon, anything that gives him a greater grasp of the rural +movement, anything that makes him a better citizen, a better business +man, or a better _man_, means the passing of the mossback. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +CULTURE FROM THE CORN LOT[2] + + +The question of questions that the college student asks himself is, What +am I going to be? The surface query is, What am I going to _do_? But in +his heart of hearts he ponders the deeper questions: What may I become +in real intellectual and moral worth? How large a man, measured by the +divine standards, will it be possible for me to grow into? + +These are the great questions because growth is the great end of life. +That is what we are here for, to grow. To develop all our talents, all +our possibilities, to increase our native powers of body, mind, and +soul--this is life. It is important that we have a vocation. We must do +something, and do it well. But the real end is not in working at a +profession but in developing our abilities. Our symmetrical growth is +the measure of our success as human beings. + +As the student looks out over the ocean of life and scans the horizon +for signs of the wise course for him to take, he should decide whether +the particular mode of life that now appeals to him will yield the +greatest possible measure of growth. He must consult his tastes, his +talents, his opportunities, his training. And the test question is, Will +this line of work yield me the growth, the culture, I desire? + +But what are the elements that yield culture to an individual? Using +culture in a very broad sense as a synonym for growth, we may say that +the things contributing most to the culture of the average person are +his work, his leisure, and his service to others. We may now try to +answer the question we started with, as it presents itself to many a +student in the agricultural colleges of our country. Will agriculture as +a business, will the farm life and environment, contribute to the growth +which I desire for myself? Can I extract culture from the corn lot? + +Let us first see if the work or vocation of farming gives culture. My +answer would be that there is scarcely an occupation to be named that +requires broader knowledge, more accurate observation, or the exercise +of better judgment than does modern farming. The farmer deals with the +application of many sciences. He must be an alert business man. He +requires executive talent of no mean order. The study of his occupation +in its wider phases leads him into direct contact with political +economy, social movements, and problems of government. The questions +confronting him as a farmer relate themselves to the leading realms of +human knowledge and experience. I speak of course of the progressive +farmer, who makes the best use of his opportunities. He can hardly hope +to become immensely wealthy, but he can maintain that modest standard of +living that usually is the lot of our most useful and cultured people +and that ministers as a rule most fully to the ideal family life. The +truly modern farmer cannot help growing. + +There is much hard work on the farm. Yet on the whole there is fully as +much leisure as in most other occupations. There is time to read, and +books are today so easily accessible that living in the country is no +bar to the bookshelf. Better than time to read is time to think. The +farmer has always been a man who pondered things in his heart. He has +had a chance to meditate. No culture is sound except it has been bought +by much thinking; all else is veneer. Farm life gives in good measure +this time to think. But it is in nature that the farmer finds or may +find his most fertile field for culture. Here he is at home. Here he +may revel if he will. Here he may find the sources of mind-liberation +and of soul-emancipation. He may be the envy of everyone who dwells in +the city because he lives so near to nature's heart. Bird and flower, +sky and tree, rock and running brook speak to him a various language. He +may read God's classics, listen to the music of divine harmonies, and +roam the picture galleries of the Eternal. So too in his dealings with +his kind, he lives close to men and women who are frank, virile, direct, +clean, independent. The culture coming from such associations is above +price. One learns to pierce all shams, to honor essential manhood, to +keep pure the fountains of sympathy, ambition, and love. Thus on the +farm one may find full opportunity for that second means of culture, +leisure. + +Another powerful agency for cultivating the human soul is service. +Indeed, service is the dynamic of life. To be of use is the ambition +that best stimulates real growth. Culture is the end of life, the spirit +of service the motive power. So it is of this I would speak perhaps most +fully, not only because it is a vital means of culture, but because it +is also peculiarly the privilege and duty of the college man and the +college woman. For let it be said that if any college student secures a +diploma of any degree without having been seized upon by a high ambition +to be of some use in the work of helping humanity forward, then have +that person's years of study been in vain, and his teaching also vain. +The college man comes not to be ministered unto but to minister. He has +been poorly taught if he leaves college with no thought but for his +material success. He must have had a vision of service, his lips touched +with a coal from the altar of social usefulness, and his heart +cultivated to respond to the call for any need he can supply, "Here am +I, send me." + +I think it may safely be said that there is no field which offers better +chance for leadership to the average college man or woman than does the +farm. Take, for instance, politics. The majority of our states are +agricultural states. The majority of our counties are agricultural +counties. The agricultural vote is the determining factor in a large +proportion of our elections. It follows inevitably that honest, strong +farmers with the talent for leadership and the ability to handle +themselves in competition with other political leaders have a +marvelously fine chance for useful service. + +So is it in educational questions. Nowhere may the citizen come into +closer contact with the educational problems of the day than through +service on the rural school board. If he brings to this position trained +intelligence, some acquaintance with educational questions, and a desire +to keep in touch with the advancement of the times, he can do for his +community a service that can hardly be imagined. + +Take another field--that of organization for farmers, constituting a +problem of great significance. As yet this class of people is relatively +unorganized, but the movement is growing and the need of well-trained +leadership is vital. I cannot speak too strongly of the chance here +offered for active, intelligent, masterful men and women in being of use +as leaders and officials in the Grange and other farmers' organizations. + +So with the church question. One of the reasons for the slow progress of +the country church is the conservatism in the pews as well as in the +pulpit. The ardent member of the Young Men's Christian Association in +college may feel that, in the country, there will be no outlet for his +ambition to be of religious use to his fellow-men. This is a mistake. +The work of the Young Men's Christian Association itself in the country +districts is just beginning, and promises large growth. Wider service in +the church, a community federation or union of different churches, the +work of young people's societies and of the Sunday schools--all these +afford abundant opportunity for the man or the woman qualified and +willing. + +There are other lines of usefulness. Although I have stated that on the +farm the opportunities for personal culture are great, it must be +confessed that these opportunities are not fully utilized by the average +farmer's family. Here then is a very wide field, especially for the +farmer's wife. For if she is a cultivated college woman, she can through +the woman's club, the Grange, the school, the nature-study club, the +traveling library, and in scores of ways exercise an influence for good +on the community that may have far greater results than would come from +her efforts if expended in the average city. The farm home too has +latent capacities that are yet to be developed. It ought to be the ideal +home and, in many cases, it is. But there are not enough of such ideal +homes in the country. No college woman with a desire to do her full +service in the world ought for an instant to despise the chance for +service as it exists on the farm. + +All of these opportunities so briefly suggested might be enlarged upon +almost indefinitely, but the mere mention of them emphasizes the call +for this service and this leadership. Nowhere are leaders more needed +than in the country. The country has been robbed of many of its +strongest and best. The city and perhaps the nation are gainers: but the +country has suffered. From one point of view, the future of our farming +communities depends upon the quality of leadership that we are to find +there during the next generation. + +So we come back to our question, Can the farm be made to yield to the +man or woman, residing upon it and making a living from it, that measure +of growth and all-round development that the ambitious person wishes to +attain? And our answer is, Yes. In its work, its leisure, its field for +service, it may minister to sound culture. If you love the life and work +of the farm, do not hesitate to choose that occupation for fear of +becoming narrow or stunted. You can live there the full, free life. You +can grow to your full stature there. You can get culture from the corn +lot. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[2] Addressed to students in an agricultural college. + + + + +THE AGENCIES OF PROGRESS + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +EDUCATION FOR THE FARMER + + +The two generations living subsequent to the year 1875 are to be +witnesses of an era in American history that will be known as the age of +industrial education. These years are to be the boundaries of a period +when the general principle that every individual shall be properly +trained for his or her occupation in life is to receive its practical +application. Future generations will doubtless extend marvelously the +limits to which the principle can be pushed in its ministrations to +human endeavor, but we are in the time when the principle is first to +receive general acceptation and is to be regarded as a fundamentally +necessary fact of human progress. + +We are already "witnesses of the light." Even within the memory of young +men has it come to pass that the old wine skins of the old educational +institutions have been filled with the new wine of science and of +knowledge and training applied to the industries and businesses of life. + +Agriculture has perhaps been slow to feel the current of the new wine +as it flows from the wine press of fast-growing industrial and social +need. But the least hopeful of us can, I am sure, already see signs of a +vast awakening. The farm, as well as the pulpit, the bar, the +schoolroom, the shop, the counting-room, is breathing in the new idea +that knowledge and training can be made of use to every man. + +This awakening is due not merely to the desire of agriculturists to be +in fashion, nor to the efforts of agricultural pedagogues, but to a real +need. It is common knowledge that in America we have not farmed, but +have mined the soil. We have "skimmed the cream" of fertility, and +passed on to conquer new areas of virgin soil. This pioneer farming has +required hard work, enterprise, courage, and all the noble traits of +character that have made our American pioneers famous and that have +within a century subdued a wilderness to civilization. But the farmer of +today faces a new situation. The fertile lands are fairly well occupied. +The old lands are depleted. These old lands must be handled skilfully if +they are to produce profitably. They must be used because there is +little else to use, and because they are near the best markets. +Meantime, scientists have been studying the deep things of nature, and +have been learning the laws that govern soil, plant, and animal. Thus we +have the farmer's need met by the theorist's discoveries. The farmer, to +avail himself of these discoveries must know their meaning and be able +to apply the general principle to the specific case. This means +agricultural education. + +Then again, the consumption of high-class products increases at least as +rapidly as does our wealth. The demand comes not alone from the rich, +but from the middle classes of our cities. Skilled artisans are large +consumers of choice meats, fruits, and vegetables. To grow these +high-grade products means skill, and skill means training, and training +in the large sense means education. + +The need for agricultural education, is, then, a real and vital one. It +is pressed upon us by economic and social conditions. It is in line with +the movement of the age. + +In discussing agricultural education, we must not forget that the farmer +is also a citizen and a man. He should be an intelligent citizen, and +should therefore study questions of government. As a man, he should be +the equal of other men of his same social rank. He therefore needs a +good general education. He is more than mere farmer. While as farmer he +must connect his business with its environment and out of his +surroundings gain sound culture; while he should know nature, not only +as its master, but as its friend; he should also be in sympathy with all +that makes modern civilization worth while. And even as mere farmer, he +finds himself face to face with grave social problems. He must not only +produce but he must sell, and his selling powers are governed by +conditions of the market, by transportation facilities and practices, +and are affected by the laws of the land. Hence he must be a student of +these problems and must know the broad phases of agriculture and its +relations to other industries. + +No intelligent man doubts the need of agricultural education. Let us, +then, say a word about the kind of education demanded. This question is +settled very largely by the discussion we have just had about the need +of this education. First of all, this education will give a fair mastery +of the principles that govern proper soil management and plant and +animal growth. This is fundamental. The farmer is dealing with natural +laws, and he must know in them their applications. He cannot be blind +to their dominance. They insist on recognition. They are jealous masters +and good servants. Nature serves only the man who obeys her. To obey he +must know. The truth shall make him free. How to secure larger crops of +better products at less cost and still maintain soil fertility, is the +first demand of modern agriculture, and its solution depends in large +measure upon education. + +But education does not stop here. The farmer is also a seller as well as +a producer. He is a business man. He is manager of an industry. He is an +investor of capital. So the question will arise, Can he get any help +from education in the handling of the business phases of his farm? He +certainly can. You cannot teach a man business in the sense of supplying +him with good sense, business judgment, ability to handle men, and so +on. But you can study the general conditions that govern the business of +agriculture, and you can report the results of your researches to the +practical farmer; and he, if he is willing, may learn much that will be +helpful to him in deciding the many difficult questions that confront +him as a business man. Farm administration in its largest sense will, +then, be a most important phase of agricultural education. + +It is quite possible for the individual farmer to succeed admirably if +he is equipped with a sound training in the principles of production and +in farm management. But there are still larger questions that farmers as +a class must meet if agriculture is to have its full success and if the +farmer himself is to occupy the social position he ought to have. +Agriculture is an industry among industries. Farmers are a class among +classes. As an industry, agriculture has relations to other industries. +It is subject to economic laws. It involves something more than growing +and selling. The nature of the market, railroad rates, effects of the +tariff and of taxation, are questions vital to agriculture. So with the +farmers socially considered. Their opportunities for social life, their +school facilities, their church privileges, their associations and +organizations--all these are important matters. So agricultural +education will not fail to call attention to these larger questions. + +The well-educated farmer will, then, be trained in three lines of +thought--first, that which deals with the growth of products; second, +that which deals with the selling of products; and third, that which +deals with agriculture as an industry and farmers as a class of people. + +We may next discuss as briefly as possible the methods by which +agricultural education may be advanced. We may not consider all of them, +but rather attend only to some of those agencies that seem of peculiar +interest just at this time. + +There is one underlying requisite of successful agricultural education +that is all-important. It is faith in agriculture. Any man to succeed +grandly must have absolute faith in his business. So the farmer must +believe in agriculture. Agriculture cannot attain its highest rank +unless the men engaged in it believe in it most profoundly. They must +believe that a man can make money in farming. They must love the farm +life and surroundings. They must believe that the best days of +agriculture are ahead of us, not behind us. They must believe that men +can find in agriculture a chance to use brains and to develop talents +and to utilize education. Agricultural education rests on this faith. +Give us a state filled with such farmers and we can guarantee a strong +system of agricultural education. But the seeds of education cannot grow +in a soil barren of the richness of sentiment for and confidence in the +farm. Our agricultural colleges have been criticized because they have +graduated so few farmers. But the fault is not all with the colleges. +The farmers also are to blame. They have not had faith enough in the +farm to advise young men to go to college to prepare for farming. They +admit the value of education for the law, for building railroads, but +not for farming. This must be changed, is being changed. The last ten +years have seen a revolution in this respect, and the result is a mighty +increase in agricultural educational interest. + +One powerful means of agricultural education is the farmers' +organization or association. All our dairy, horticultural, poultry, and +live-stock associations are great educators. So of an organization like +the Grange, its chief work is education. It brings mind in contact with +mind; it gives chance for discussion and interchange of ideas; it trains +in power of expression; it teaches the virtue of co-operation. Farmers +blunder when they fail to encourage organization. Sometimes, out of +foolish notions of independence, they neglect to unite their forces. +They are utterly blind to their best interests when they do so. They +should encourage organization if for no other reason than for the +splendid educational advantages that flow from it. + +However, our chief interest is, perhaps, in those institutions that are +formed purposely and especially for agricultural education and which are +usually supported out of public funds. There are three great fields of +endeavor in which these institutions are working. The first step is to +know--to know the truth. So in agriculture we must know. Know what? Know +how nature works. So the man of science studies the soil and finds out +what plant-food it contains, how the water acts in it, what heat and air +do, and the inter-relation of all these elements. He studies the plant +and its habits and tries to discover how it grows and how it can be +improved for man's use. He studies the animal and endeavors to learn +what are the best foods for it and what laws govern its adaptation to +human food. He studies climate and tries to find out what plants and +animals are most appropriate to different locations. He studies +injurious insects and diseases and devises remedies for them. He +discovers, experiments. So we have research as the first term in +agricultural education. The institutions of research are our experiment +stations and United States Department of Agriculture. Their work may be +likened to the plowing of the field. They strive to know how nature +works, and how man can make use of her laws in the growing of plant and +animal. + +The next thing is to teach. The farmer too must know. Knowledge confined +to the scientist has little practical use. It is the farmer who can use +it. Moreover, new teachers must be trained, new experimenters equipped, +and leaders in every direction prepared. So we have agricultural +colleges and schools. If experiment is to be likened to plowing, the +work of the schools may be compared to sowing and cultivating. + +Agricultural colleges have been in existence in America almost fifty +years. Their careers have been both inspiring and disappointing. They +have had to train their own teachers, create a body of knowledge, break +down the bars of educational prejudice. This work has taken time. The +results justify the time and effort. For today agricultural education is +becoming organized, the subjects of study are well planned, and +competent men are teaching and experimenting. The disappointment is +twofold. They have not graduated as many farmers as they should have. +This is due not wholly to wrong notions in the colleges. It is, as +suggested before, partly due to the lack of faith in agriculture on the +part of the farmers themselves. But the colleges are in part to blame. +Many of them have not been in close touch with the farmers. They have +often been out of sympathy with the interests of the farmers. They have +too frequently been servile imitators of the traditions of the older +colleges, instead of striking out boldly on a line of original and +helpful work for agriculture. Today, however, we see a rapid change +going on in most of our agricultural colleges. They are seeking to help +solve the farmers' difficulties. They are training young men for farm +life. The farmers are responding to this new interest and are beginning +to have great confidence in the colleges. + +It is sometimes said that most farmers who get an agricultural education +cannot be trained in the colleges. Doubtless this is true. Probably a +very small proportion even of educated farmers can or will graduate from +a full course in an agricultural college. Many will do so. There is no +reason why a large proportion of the graduates of our college courses in +agriculture may not go to the farm. I have no sympathy with the idea +that those courses are too elaborate for those young men who want to +farm. It must be recognized, however, that even if our agricultural +colleges shall graduate hundreds and thousands every year who return to +the farm, it still leaves the great majority of farmers untouched in an +educational way unless other means are devised. But there are other +means at hand. + +We have first the agricultural school. The typical agricultural high +school gives a course of two or three years, offering work of +high-school grade in mathematics and English, with about half the time +devoted to teaching in agriculture. Many young men want to get an +insight into the principles of modern agriculture, but cannot afford +time or money for college work. This course fits their need. A splendid +school of this design has been in successful operation in Minnesota for +more than a dozen years, and has nearly five hundred students. In +Wisconsin there are two county schools of agriculture for a similar +purpose. Other schools could be named. + +The agricultural colleges also offer shorter courses of college grade, +perhaps of two years. These are very practical and useful courses. Not +only that, but nearly all the colleges give special winter courses of +from ten days to fourteen weeks. These are patronized by thousands of +young men. So in many ways are the colleges meeting the need. We all +agree that it is desirable for a young man to take a full college +course, even in agriculture. But it is better to have a half-loaf than +no bread. Yes, better to have a _slice_ than no bread. The colleges +furnish the whole loaf, the half-loaf, and the slice. And young men are +nourished by all. + +One reason why agricultural education has not made more rapid progress +is because the children of the country schools have been taught in such +a manner as to lead them to think that there is no chance for brains in +farming. Both their home influence and their school atmosphere have, in +most cases perhaps, been working against their choice of agriculture as +a vocation. It therefore becomes important that these children shall be +so taught that they can see the opportunity in farming. They must, +moreover, be so trained that they will be nature students; for the +farmer above all men must be a nature student. So we see the need of +introducing into our rural schools nature-study for the young pupils and +elementary agriculture for the older ones. This is being successfully +accomplished in many cases, and is arousing the greatest interest and +meeting with gratifying success. We shall within ten years have a new +generation of young men and women ready for college who have had their +eyes opened as never before to the beauties of nature and to the +fascination there is in the farmer's task of using nature for his own +advantage. + +But when we have increased the attendance at our agricultural colleges +tenfold; when we have hundreds of agricultural schools teaching +thousands of our youth the fundamentals of agriculture; when each rural +school in our broad land is instilling into the minds of children the +nearness and beauty of nature and is teaching the young eyes to see and +the young ears to hear what God hath wrought in his many works of land +and sea and sky, in soil, and plant, and living animal--even when that +happy day shall dawn will we find multitudes of men and women on our +farms still untouched by agricultural education. These people must be +reached. The mere fact that their school days are forever behind them is +no reason why they shall not receive somewhat of the inspiration and +guidance that flow from the schools. So we have an imperative demand for +the extension of agricultural teaching out from the schools to the farm +community. The school thus not only sheds its light upon those who are +within its gates, but sets out on the beautiful errand of carrying this +same light into every farm home in the land. This work is being done +today by thousands of farmers' institutes, by demonstrations in spraying +and in many other similar lines, by home-study courses and +correspondence courses, by co-operative experiments, by the distribution +of leaflets and bulletins, by lectures at farmers' gatherings, by +traveling schools of dairying. These methods and others like them are +being invoked for the purpose of bringing to the farmers in their homes +and neighborhoods some of the benefits that the colleges and schools +bestow upon their pupils. + +We have seen something of the need of agricultural education, of the +kind of education required, and of the means used to secure it. Does not +this discussion at least show the supreme importance of the question? +Will not the farmers rally themselves to and league themselves with the +men who are trying to forward the best interests of the farm? Shall we +not all work together for the betterment both of the farm and of the +farmer? + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +FARMERS' INSTITUTES + + +A decade and a half ago, there was a vigorous campaign for the +establishment of university extension throughout the United States. +Generally speaking the campaign was a losing one--with but a few +successes amid general failure. But many years before this agitation, +there was begun a work among farmers, which in form and spirit was +university extension, and which has constantly developed until it is +today one of the most potent among the forces making for rural progress. +This work has been done chiefly by what are now universally known as +farmers' institutes. + +The typical farmers' institute is a meeting usually lasting two days, +held for the purpose of discussing subjects that relate to the interests +of farmers, more particularly those of a practical character. As a rule, +the speakers to whom set topics are assigned are composed of two +classes: the first class is made up of experts, either professors or +experimenters in agricultural colleges and similar institutions, or +practical farmers who have made such a study of, and such a conspicuous +success in, some branch of agriculture that they may well be called +experts; the second class comprises farmers living in the locality in +which the institute is held. The experts are expected to understand +general principles or methods, and the local speakers the conditions +peculiar to the neighborhood. + +The meeting usually begins in the forenoon and ends with the afternoon +session of the second day--five sessions being held. As a rule, not over +two or three separate topics are treated in any one session, and in a +well-planned institute topics of a like character are grouped together, +so that there may be a fruit session, a dairy session, etc. Each topic +is commonly introduced by a talk or paper of twenty to forty minutes' +length. This is followed by a general discussion in which those in the +audience are invited to ask questions of the speaker relevant to the +topic under consideration, or to express opinions and give experiences +of their own. + +This is a rough outline of the average farmers' institute, but of course +there are many variations. There are one-day meetings and there are +three-day meetings, and in recent years the one-day meetings have grown +in favor; in some states local speakers take little part; in some +institutes a question-box is a very prominent feature, in others it is +omitted altogether; in some cases the evening programme is made up of +educational topics, or of home topics, or is even arranged largely for +amusement; in other instances the evening session is omitted. In most +institutes women are recognized through programme topics of special +interest to them. + +It is not important to trace the early history of the farmers' institute +movement, and indeed it is not very easy to say precisely when and where +the modern institute originated. Farmers' meetings of various sorts were +held early in the century. As far back as 1853 the secretary of the +Massachusetts Board of Agriculture recommended that farmers' institutes +be made an established means of agricultural education. By 1871 Illinois +and Iowa held meetings called farmers' institutes, itinerant in +character, and designed to call together both experts and farmers, but +neither state kept up the work systematically. Both Vermont and New +Hampshire have held institutes annually since 1871, though they did not +bear that name in the early years. Michigan has a unique record, having +held regularly, since 1876, annual farmers' institutes, "so known and +designated," which always have contained practically the essential +features of the present-day institute. The Michigan legislature passed a +law in 1861 providing for "lectures to others than students of the +Agricultural College," and has made biennial appropriations for +institutes since 1877. Ohio, in 1881, extended the institute idea to +include every county in the state. + +More important than the origin of the farmers' institute movement is the +present status. Practically every state and territory in the Union +carries on institutes under some form or other. In somewhat more than +half the states, the authorities of the land-grant colleges have charge +of the work. In the other states, the board of agriculture or the +department of agriculture has control. + +In 1905-6 there were held 3,500 institutes, in 45 states and +territories, with a total reported attendance of 1,300,000 people, at a +cost of nearly $350,000. The work is largely supported by the state +treasuries, some of the states showing a most generous spirit. The +annual state appropriations for the work in leading institute states are +as follows: Pennsylvania, $20,500; New York, $20,000; Minnesota, +$18,000; Illinois, $17,150; Ohio, $16,747; Wisconsin, $12,000; Indiana, +$10,000. In these states practically every county has annually from one +to five institutes. + +Institutes in no two states are managed in the same way, but the system +has fitted itself to local notions and perhaps to local needs. A rough +division may be made--those states which have some form of central +control and those which do not have. Even among states having a central +management are found all degrees of centralization; Wisconsin and Ohio +may be taken as the extremes. In Wisconsin the director of institutes, +who is an employee of the university, has practically complete charge of +the institutes. He assigns the places where the meetings are to be held, +basing his decision upon the location of former institutes in the +various counties, upon the eagerness which the neighborhoods seem to +manifest toward securing the institute, etc. He arranges the programme +for each meeting, suiting the topics and speakers to local needs, +prepares advertising materials, and sets the dates of the meeting. A +local correspondent looks after a proper hall for meeting, distributes +the advertising posters, and bears a certain responsibility for the +success of the institute. Meetings are arranged in series, and a corps +of two or three lecturers is sent by the director upon a week's tour. +One of these lecturers is called a conductor. He usually presides over +the institute and keeps the discussions in proper channels. Practice +makes him an expert. The state lecturers do most of the talking. Local +speakers do not bear any large share in the programme. Questions are +freely asked, however. + +Ohio has an institute society in each county, and this society largely +controls its own institutes. The secretary of the State Board of +Agriculture, who has charge of the system, assigns dates and speakers to +each institute. After that everything is in the hands of the local +society, which chooses the topics to be presented by the state speakers, +advertises the meeting, and the society president acts as presiding +officer. Local speakers usually occupy half the time. + +It does not seem as if either of these plans in its entirety were +ideal--the one an extreme of centralized control, the other an extreme +of local management. Yet in practice both plans work well. No states in +the Union have better institutes nor better results from institute work +than Wisconsin and Ohio. Skill, intelligence, and tact count for more +than particular institutions. + +New York may be said to follow the Wisconsin plan. Minnesota goes even a +step farther; instead of holding several series of institutes +simultaneously in different parts of the state, attended by different +"crews," the whole corps of state speakers attends every institute. No +set programmes are arranged. Everything depends upon local conditions. +This system is expensive, but under present guidance very effective. +Michigan, Indiana, and Pennsylvania have adopted systems which are a +mean between the plan of centralization and the plan of localization. +Illinois has a plan admirably designed to encourage local interest, +while providing for central management. + +Few other states have carried institute work so far as the states +already named, and in some cases there seems to be a prejudice against a +well-centralized and fully-developed system--a feeling that each +locality may be self-sufficing in institute work. But this attitude is +wearing away, for experience serves to demonstrate fully the value of +system. The danger of centralization is bureaucracy; but in institute +work, if the management fails to provide for local needs, and to furnish +acceptable speakers, vigorous protests soon correct the aberration. + +It has been stated that in America we have no educational _system_--that +spontaneity is the dominant feature of American education. This is +certainly true of farmers' institutes. So it has transpired that +numerous special features have come in to use in various +states--features of value and interest. It may be worth while to suggest +some of the more characteristic of these features, without attempting an +exact category. + +Formerly the only way in which women were recognized at the institutes +was by home and social topics on the programme, though women have always +attended the meetings freely. Some years ago Minnesota and Wisconsin +added women speakers to their list of state speakers, and in the case of +Wisconsin, at least, held a separate session for women, simultaneously +with one or two sessions of the regular institute, with demonstration +lectures in cooking as the chief features. Michigan holds "women's +sections" in connection with institutes, but general topics are taken +up. In Ontario separate women's institutes have been organized. In +Illinois a State Association of Domestic Science has grown out of the +institutes. Thus institute work has broadened to the advantage of farm +women. + +At many institutes there are exhibits of farm and domestic products--a +sort of midwinter fair. Oftentimes the merchants of the town in which +the institute is held offer premiums as an inducement to the farmers. + +In Wisconsin an educational feature of much value takes the form of +stock-judging--usually at the regular autumn fairs. The judges give +their reasons for their decisions, thus emphasizing the qualities that +go to make up a perfect or desirable animal. + +In several states there is held an annual state institute called a +"round-up," "closing institute," or the like. It is intended to be a +largely attended and representative state convention of agriculturists, +for the purpose of discussing topics of general interest to men and +women from the farms. These meetings are frequently very large and +enthusiastic gatherings. + +The county institute society is a part of the organization in some +instances very well developed. It gives permanency to the work and +arouses local interest and pride. + +The development of men and women into suitable state speakers is an +interesting phase. As a rule the most acceptable speakers are men who +have made a success in some branch of farming, and who also have +cultivated the gift of clear and simple expression. Not a few of these +men become adepts in public speaking and achieve a reputation outside of +their own states. In several states there is held a "normal +institute"--an autumn meeting lasting a week or two weeks, and bringing +together, usually at the state college of agriculture, the men who are +to give the lectures at the institutes of the winter to follow. The +object of the gathering is to bring the lecturers into close contact +with the latest things in agricultural science, and to train them for +more effective work. + +A few years ago the United States Department of Agriculture employed an +experienced institute director to give all his time to the study and +promotion of farmers' institutes. This incident is suggestive of the +important place which institutes have secured in the work for better +farming. + +The results of a generation of institute work are not easy to summarize. +It is safe to make a broad generalization by asserting that this form +of agricultural education has contributed in a remarkable degree to +better farming. The best methods of farming have been advocated from the +institute platform. Agricultural college professors, and agricultural +experimenters have talked of the relations of science to practical +farming. The farmers have come to depend upon the institute as a means +for gaining up-to-date information. + +And if institutes have informed, they have also done what is still +better--they have inspired. They have gone into many a dormant farm +community and awakened the whole neighborhood to a quicker life. They +have started discussions, set men thinking, brought in a breath of fresh +air. They have given to many a farmer an opportunity for +self-development as a ready speaker. + +Other educational agencies, such as the agricultural colleges and +experiment stations, have profited by institutes. No one thing has done +more than the institutes to popularize agricultural education, to stir +up interest in the colleges, to make the farmers feel in touch with the +scientists. + +Farmers' institutes are a phase of university extension, and it is as a +part of the extension movement that they are bound to increase in value +and importance. Reading-courses and correspondence-courses are growing +factors in this extension movement, but the power of the spoken word is +guarantee that the farmers' institute cannot be superseded in fact. And +it is worth noting again, that while university extension has not been +the success in this country which its friends of a decade ago fondly +prophesied for it, its humbler cousin--agricultural college +extension--has been a conspicuous success, and is acquiring a constantly +increasing power among the educational agencies that are trying to deal +with the farm problem. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE HESPERIA MOVEMENT + + +The gulf between parent and teacher is too common a phenomenon to need +exposition. The existence of the chasm is probably due more to +carelessness, to the pressure of time, or to indolence than to any more +serious delinquencies; yet all will admit the disastrous effects that +flow from the fact that there is not the close intellectual and +spiritual sympathy that there should be between the school and the home. +It needs no argument to demonstrate the value of any movement that has +for its purpose the bridging of the gulf. But it is an omen of +encouragement to find that there are forces at work designed to bring +teacher and school patron into a closer working harmony. A statement of +the history and methods of some of these agencies may therefore well +have a place in a discussion of rural progress. For the movements to be +described are essentially rural-school movements. Of first interest is +an attempt which has been made in the state of Michigan to bridge the +gulf--to create a common standing-ground for both teacher and +parent--and on that basis to carry on an educational campaign that it is +hoped will result in the many desirable conditions which, a priori, +might be expected from such a union. At present the movement is confined +practically to the rural schools. It consists in the organization of a +county Teachers and Patrons' Association, with a membership of teachers +and school patrons, properly officered. Its chief method of work is to +hold one or more meetings a year, usually in the country or in small +villages, and the programme is designed to cover educational questions +in such a way as to be of interest and profit to both teachers and +farmers. + +This movement was indigenous to Michigan--its founders worked out the +scheme on their own initiative, and to this day its promoters have never +drawn upon any resources outside the state for suggestion or plan. But +if the friends of rural education elsewhere shall be attracted by this +method of solving one of the vexed phases of their problem, I hope that +they will describe it as "the Hesperia movement." For the movement +originated in Hesperia, was developed there, and its entire success in +Hesperia was the reason for its further adoption. Hesperia deserves any +renown that may chance to come from the widespread organization of +Teachers and Patrons' Associations. + +And where is Hesperia? It lies about forty miles north and west of Grand +Rapids--a mere dot of a town, a small country village at least twelve or +fifteen miles from any railroad. It is on the extreme eastern side of +Oceana County, surrounded by fertile farming lands, which have been +populated by a class of people who may be taken as a type of +progressive, successful, intelligent American farmers. Many of them are +of Scotch origin. Partly because of their native energy, partly, +perhaps, because their isolation made it necessary to develop their own +institutions, these people believe in and support good schools, the +Grange, and many progressive movements. + +For several years there had existed in Oceana County the usual county +teachers' association. But, because Hesperia was so far from the center +of the county, and because it was not easily accessible, the teachers +who taught schools in the vicinity could rarely secure a meeting of the +association at Hesperia; and in turn they found it difficult to attend +the meetings held in the western part of the county. A few years ago it +chanced that this group of teachers was composed of especially bright, +energetic, and original young men and women. They determined to have an +association of their own. It occurred to someone that it would add +strength to their organization if the farmers were asked to meet with +them. The idea seemed to "take," and the meetings became quite popular. +This was during the winter of 1885-86. Special credit for this early +venture belongs to Mr. E. L. Brooks, still of Hesperia and an +ex-president of the present association, and to Dr. C. N. Sowers, of +Benton Harbor, Mich., who was one of the teachers during the winter +named, and who was elected secretary of the Board of School Examiners in +1887. Mr. Brooks writes: + + + The programmes were so arranged that the participants in + discussions and in the reading of papers were about equally divided + between teachers and patrons. An active interest was awakened from + the start. For one thing, it furnished a needed social gathering + during the winter for the farmers. The meetings were held on + Saturdays, and the schoolhouse favored was usually well filled. The + meetings were not held at any one schoolhouse, but were made to + circulate among the different schools. These gatherings were so + successful that similar societies were organized in other portions + of the country. + + +In 1892, Mr. D. E. McClure, who has since (1896-1900) been deputy +superintendent of public instruction of Michigan, was elected +county-school commissioner of Oceana County. Mr. McClure is a man of +great enthusiasm and made a most successful commissioner. He conceived +the idea that this union of teachers and patrons could be made of the +greatest value, in stimulating both teachers and farmers to renewed +interest in the real welfare of the children as well as a means of +securing needed reforms. His first effort was to prepare a list of books +suitable for pupils in all grades of the rural schools. He also prepared +a rural lecture-course, as well as a plan for securing libraries for the +schools. All these propositions were adopted by a union meeting of +teachers and farmers. His next step was to unite the interests of +eastern Oceana County and western Newaygo County (Newaygo lying directly +east of Oceana), and in 1893 there was organized the "Oceana and Newaygo +Counties Joint Grangers and Teachers' Association," the word "Granger" +being inserted because of the activity of the Grange in support of the +movement. Mr. McClure has pardonable pride in this effort of his, and +his own words will best describe the development of the movement: + + + This association meets Thursday night and continues in session + until Saturday night. Some of the best speakers in America have + addressed the association. Dr. Arnold Tompkins, in speaking before + the association, said it was a wonderful association and the only + one of its character in the United States. + + What was my ideal in organizing such associations? + + 1. To unite the farmers who pay the taxes that support the schools, + the home-makers, the teachers, the pupils, into a co-operative work + for better rural-school education. + + 2. To give wholesome entertainment in the rural districts, which + from necessity are more or less isolated. + + 3. To create a taste for good American literature in home and + school, and higher ideals of citizenship. + + 4. Summed up in all, to make the rural schools character-builders, + to rid the districts of surroundings which destroy character, such + as unkept school yards, foul, nasty outhouses, poor, unfit + teachers. These reforms, you understand, come only through a + healthy educational sentiment which is aroused by a sympathetic + co-operation of farm, home, and school. + + What results have I been able to discover growing out of this work? + Ideals grow so slowly that one cannot measure much progress in a + few years. We are slaves to conditions, no matter how hard, and we + suffer them to exist rather than arouse ourselves and shake them + off. The immediate results are better schools, yards, + out-buildings, schoolrooms, teachers, literature for rural people + to read. + + Many a father and mother whose lives have been broken upon the + wheel of labor have heard some of America's orators, have read some + of the world's best books, because of this movement, and their + lives have been made happier, more influential, more hopeful. + + Thousands of people have been inspired, made better, at the + Hesperia meetings. + + +In western Michigan the annual gathering at Hesperia is known far and +wide as "the big meeting." The following extract from the Michigan +_Moderator-Topics_ indicates in the editor's breezy way the impression +the meeting for 1906 made upon an observer: + + + Hesperia scores another success. Riding over the fourteen miles + from the railroad to Hesperia with Governor Warner and D. E. + McClure, we tried to make the latter believe that the crowd would + not be forthcoming on that first night of the fourteenth annual + "big meeting." It was zero weather and mighty breezy. For such a + movement to succeed two years is creditable, to hold out for five + is wonderful, to last ten is marvelous, but to grow bigger and + better for fourteen years is a little short of miraculous. McClure + is recognized as the father of the movement and his faith didn't + waver a hair's breadth. And sure enough there was the + crowd--standing room only, to hear the governor and see the great + cartoonist J. T. McCutcheon of the _Chicago Tribune_. For three + evenings and two days the big hall is crowded with patrons, pupils + and teachers from the towns and country round. During the fourteen + years that these meetings have been held, the country community has + heard some of the world's greatest speakers. The plan has been + adopted by other counties in Michigan and other states both east + and west. Its possibilities are well-nigh unlimited and its power + for good is immeasurable. Everyone connected with it may well feel + proud of the success attending the now famous "Hesperia Movement." + + +In 1897, Kent County, Michigan (of which Grand Rapids is the county +seat), organized a Teachers and Patrons' Association that is worth a +brief description, although in more recent years its work has been +performed by other agencies. It nevertheless serves as a good example of +a well-organized association designed to unite the school and home +interests of rural communities. It was for several years signally +successful in arousing interest in all parts of the county. Besides, it +made a departure from the Oceana-Newaygo plan which must be considered +advantageous for most counties. The Hesperia meeting is an annual +affair, with big crowds and abundant enthusiasm. The Kent County +association was itinerant. The membership included teachers, school +officers, farmers generally, and even pupils. An attempt was made to +hold monthly meetings during the school year, but for various reasons +only five or six meetings a year were held. The meetings usually +occurred in some Grange hall, the Grange furnishing entertainment for +the guests. There were usually three sessions--Friday evening and +Saturday forenoon and afternoon. The average attendance was nearly five +hundred, about one-tenth being teachers; many teachers as well as +farmers went considerable distances to attend. + +The Kent County association did not collect any fees from its members, +the Teachers' Institute fund of the county being sufficient to provide +for the cost of lectures at the association meetings. Permission for +this use of the fund was obtained from the state superintendent of +public instruction. Some counties have a membership fee; at Hesperia, +the fee is 50 cents, and a membership ticket entitles its holder to a +reserved seat at all sessions. The Kent County association also +suggested a reading-course for its members. + +The success of the work in Kent County was due primarily to the fact +that the educators and the farmers and their leaders are in especially +close sympathy. And right there is the vital element of success in this +work. The initiative must be taken by the educators, but the plan must +be thoroughly democratic, and teacher and farmer must be equally +recognized in all particulars. The results of the work in Kent County +were thus summarized by the commissioner of schools of the county: + + + To teachers, the series of meetings is a series of mid-year + institutes. Every argument in favor of institutes applies with all + its force to these associations. To farmers they afford a near-by + lecture course, accessible to all members of the family, and of as + high grade as those maintained in the larger villages. To the + schools, the value is in the general sentiment and interest + awakened. The final vote on any proposed school improvement is + taken at the annual school meeting, and the prevailing sentiment in + the neighborhood has everything to do with this vote. And not only + this, but the general interest of patrons may help and cheer both + teacher and pupils throughout the year. On the other hand, + indifference and neglect may freeze the life out of the most + promising school. There is no estimating the value to the schools + in this respect. + + +The Kent County association had a very simple constitution. It is +appended here for the benefit of any who may desire to begin this +beneficent work of endeavoring to draw more closely together rural +schools and country homes. + + + ARTICLE I.--NAME + + This association shall be known as "The Kent County Teachers and + Patrons' Association." + + + ARTICLE II.--MEMBERSHIP + + Any person may become a member of this association by assenting to + this constitution and paying the required membership fee. + + + ARTICLE III.--OBJECTS + + The object of this association shall be the promotion of better + educational facilities in all ways and the encouragement of social + and intellectual culture among its members. + + + ARTICLE IV.--MEETINGS + + At least five meetings of the association shall be held each year, + during the months of October, November, January, February, and + March, the dates and places of meetings to be determined and + announced by the executive committee. Special meetings may be + called at the election of the executive committee. + + + ARTICLE V.--OFFICERS + + SECTION 1. The officers of the association shall be a president, a + vice-president, a secretary, a treasurer, and an executive + committee composed of five members to be appointed by the + president. + + SEC. 2. The election of officers shall occur at the regular meeting + of the association in the month of October. + + SEC. 3. The duties of each officer shall be such as parliamentary + usage assigns, respectively, according to Cushing's Manual. + + SEC. 4. It shall be the duty of the executive committee to arrange + a schedule of meetings and to provide suitable lecturers and + instructors for the same on or before the first day of September of + each year. It shall be the further duty of this committee to devise + means to defray the expenses incurred for lecturers and + instructors. All meetings shall be public, and no charge for + admission shall be made, except by order of the executive + committee. + + + ARTICLE VI.--COURSE OF READING + + SECTION 1. The executive committee may also recommend a course of + reading to be pursued by members, and it shall be their duty to + make such other recommendations from time to time as shall have for + their object the more effective carrying out of the purposes of the + association. + + +Whether the Oceana County plan of a set annual meeting or the Kent +County plan of numerous itinerant meetings is the better one depends +much on the situation. It is not improbable that itinerant meetings, +with an annual "round-up" meeting of the popular type as the great event +of the school year, would be very satisfactory. + +Other counties in the state have taken up the Hesperia idea. In some +cases associations similar to the Kent County association have been +developed. More recently the work has frequently been carried on by the +county commissioner of schools directly. "Institutes on wheels" have +become a factor in the campaign for better rural schools. One +commissioner writes: + + + My aim has been to bring into very close relationship teachers, + patrons, and pupils. This is done, in part, in the following + manner: I engage, for a week's work at a time, some educator of + state or national reputation to ride with me on my visitation of + schools. Through the day, schools are visited, pupils' work + inspected, and in the evening, a rally is held in the locality + visited in that day. A circuit is made during the week, and Friday + evening and the Saturday following a general round-up is held. The + results of this work have been far reaching. Teachers, patrons, and + pupils are brought into close relationship and a higher standard of + education is developed. + + +The form of organization matters little. The essential idea of the +"Hesperia movement" was to bring together the teacher and the school +patron on a common platform, to a common meeting-place, to discuss +subjects of common interest. This idea must be vitalized in the rural +community before that progress in rural-school matters which we desire +shall become a fact. + +It is only fair to say that administrators of rural-school systems in +several states are attempting in one way or another, and have done so +for some years, to bring together teachers and school patrons. In Iowa +there are mothers' clubs organized for the express purpose of promoting +the best interests of the schools. In many of the communities the county +superintendent organizes excursions, and holds school contests which are +largely attended by patrons of the schools. + +Ohio has what is known as the "Ohio School Improvement Federation." Its +objects are: (1) to create a wholesome educational sentiment in the +citizenship of the state; (2) to remove the school from partisan +politics; (3) to make teaching a profession, protected and justly +compensated. County associations of the federation are being organized +and the effort is being made to reach the patrons of the schools and to +create the right public sentiment. In many of the teachers' institutes +there is one session devoted entirely to subjects that are of special +interest to the school-board members and to the patrons of the schools. +Educational rallies are held in many of the townships, at which effort +is made to get together all the citizens and have an exhibit of school +work. + +In Minnesota, a law was passed recently to the effect that school +officers within a county may attend one educational convention a year +upon call of the county superintendent. They receive therefor, three +dollars for one day's services and five cents mileage each way for +attendance. Already a number of very successful conventions have been +held, wherein all school districts in the counties have been +represented. + +The county institutes in Pennsylvania are largely attended by the public +and are designed to reach patrons as well as teachers. + +In Kansas, county superintendents have organized school-patrons' +associations and school-board associations, both of which definitely +purpose to bring together the school and the home and the officers of +the school into one body and to co-operate with individuals for the +purpose of bettering the school conditions. + +Doubtless other states are carrying on similar methods. + +An interesting movement wholly independent of the Hesperia plan has +recently been put into operation under the leadership of Principal Myron +T. Scudder of the State Normal School, New Paltz, N. Y. He has organized +a series of country-school conferences. They grew out of a recognized +need, but were an evolution rather than a definite scheme. The school +commissioner, the teachers, and the Grange people of the community have +joined in making up the conference. An attempt is also made to interest +the pupils. At one conference there was organized an athletic league for +the benefit of the boys of the country school. The practical phases of +nature-study and manual training are treated on the programme, and at +least one session is made a parents' meeting. There is no organization +whatever. + +Dr. A. E. Winship, of the _Journal of Education_, Boston, had the +following editorial in the issue of June 21, 1906: + + + It is now fourteen years since D. E. McClure spoke into being the + Hesperia movement, which is a great union of educational and farmer + forces, in a midwinter Chautauqua, as it were. Twelve miles from + the railroad, in the slight village of Hesperia, a one-street + village, one side of the street being in one county and the other + side in another, for three days and evenings in midwinter each + year, in a ramshackle building, eight hundred people from all parts + of the two counties sit in reserved seats, for which they pay a + good price, and listen to one or two notable speakers and a number + of local functionaries. One-half of the time is devoted to + education and the other to farm interests. + + It is a great idea, well worked out, and after fourteen years it + maintains its lustiness, but I confess to disappointment that the + idea has not spread more extensively. It is so useful there, and + the idea is so suggestive, that it should have been well-nigh + universal, and yet despite occasional bluffs at it, I know of no + serious effort to adopt it elsewhere, unless the midwinter meeting + at Shelby, in one of these two counties, can be considered a spread + of the idea. This child of the Hesperia movement, in one of the two + counties, and only twenty miles away, had this year many more in + attendance than have ever been at Hesperia. + + +This work of uniting more closely the interests, sympathies, and +intelligence of the teachers and patrons of the rural school has had a +test in Michigan of sufficient length to prove that it is a practicable +scheme. No one questions the desirability of the ends it is prepared to +compass, and experience in Michigan shows not only that where the +educators have sufficient enterprise, tact, enthusiasm, and persistence +the necessary organizations can be perfected, but that substantial +results follow. For the sake of better rural schools, then, it is +sincerely to be hoped that the "Hesperia movement" may find expression +in numerous teachers and patrons' associations in at least the great +agricultural states. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE RURAL SCHOOL AND THE COMMUNITY + + +Among the great phenomena of our time is the growth of the school +idea--the realization of the part that the school plays in our +civilization and in the training of our youth for life. Our New England +fathers started the school in order that their children might learn to +read the Scriptures, and thus that they might get right ideas of their +religious duty. Even after this aim was outgrown, our schools for +generations did little more than to teach the use of the mere tools of +knowledge; to read, to write, and to cipher were the great gains of the +schoolroom. Even geography and grammar were rather late arrivals. Then +came the idea that the school should train children for citizenship, and +it was argued that the chief reason why schools should be supported at +public expense was in order that good citizens should be trained there. +History and civil government were put into the course in obedience to +this theory. Another step was taken when physiology was added, because +it was an acknowledgment that the schools should do something to train +youth in the individual art of living. Still another step was taken when +manual training and domestic science were brought into our city schools, +because these studies emphasize the fact that the schools must do +something to train workers. And finally we have at present the idea +gaining a strong foothold that the schools must train the child to fill +its place in the world of men; to see all the relations of life; to be +fitted to live in human society. This idea really embraces all of the +other ideas. It implies that the schools shall not only teach each +individual the elements of knowledge, that they shall train for +citizenship, that they shall train men in the art of living, that they +shall aid in preparing for an occupation, but that they shall do _all_ +of these things, and do them not merely for the good of the individual, +but for the good of society as a whole. + +And not only is there a feeling that the pupil in school can be brought +into closer touch with the life of the community, but that the school as +an institution can be made more useful to the community as a whole. This +double thought has been expressed in the phrase, "Make the school a +social center," and practically it is being slowly worked out in +numerous city schools. How far can this idea be developed in the country +school? + +The purpose of this chapter is not to deal in the theory of the subject, +nor to argue particularly for this view of the function of the school, +but rather to try to show some methods by which the rural school and the +farm community actually can be brought into closer relations. In this +way we may perhaps indicate that there is a better chance for +co-operation between the rural school and the farm community than we +have been accustomed to believe, and that this closer relation is worth +striving for. Five methods will be suggested by which the rural school +can become a social center. Some of these have already been tried in +rural communities, some of them have been tried in cities, and some of +them have not been tried at all. + +1. The first means of making the rural school a social center is through +the course of study. It is here that the introduction of nature-study +into our rural schools would be especially helpful. This nature-study +when properly followed approves itself both to educators and to farmers. +It is a pedagogical principle recognized by every modern teacher that in +education it is necessary to consider the environment of the child, so +that the school may not be to him "a thing remote and foreign." The +value of nature-study is recognized not only in thus making possible an +intelligent study of the country child's environment, but in teaching a +love of nature, in giving habits of correct observation, and in +preparing for the more fruitful study of science in later years. Our +best farmers are also coming to see that nature-study in the rural +schools is a necessity, because it will tend to give a knowledge of the +laws that govern agriculture, because it will teach the children to love +the country, because it will show the possibilities of living an +intellectual life upon the farm. Nature-study, therefore, will have a +very direct influence in bringing the child into close touch with the +whole life of the farm community. + +But it is not so much a matter of introducing new studies--the old +studies can be taught in such a way as to make them seem vital and +human. Take, for instance, geography. It used to be approached from the +standpoint of the solar system. It now begins with the schoolhouse and +the pupils' homes, and works outward from the things that the child sees +and knows to the things that it must imagine. History, writing, +reading, the sciences, and even other subjects can be taught so as to +connect them vitally and definitely with the life of the farm community. +To quote Colonel Parker, who suggests the valuable results of such a +method of teaching: + + + It would make a strong, binding union of the home and the school, + the farm methods and the school methods. It would bring the farm + into the school and project the school into the farm. It would give + parent and teacher one motive in the carrying out of which both + could heartily join. The parent would appreciate and judge fairly + the work of the school, the teacher would honor, dignify and + elevate the work of the farm. + + +The study of the landscape of the near-by country, the study of the +streams, the study of the soils, studies that have to do with the +location of homes, of villages, the study of the weather, of the common +plants, of domestic animals--all of these things will give the child a +better start in education, a better comprehension of the life he is to +live, a better idea of the business of farming, a better notion about +the importance of agriculture, and will tend to fit him better for +future life either on the farm or anywhere else, than could any amount +of the old-fashioned book knowledge. Is it not a strange fact that so +many farmers will decry book knowledge when applied to the business of +farming, and at the same time set so much store by the book learning +that is given in the common arithmetic, the old-fashioned reader, and +the dry grammar of the typical school? Of course anyone pleading for +this sort of study in the rural schools must make it clear that the +ordinary accomplishments of reading, writing, and ciphering are not to +be neglected. As a matter of fact, pupils under this method can be just +as well trained in these branches as under the old plan. The point to be +emphasized, however, is that a course of study constructed on this +theory will tend to bring the school and the community closer together, +will make the school of more use to the community, will give the +community more interest in the school, while at the same time it will +better prepare pupils to do their work in life. + +2. A second way of making the rural school a social center is through +the social activities of the pupils. This means that the pupils as a +body can co-operate for certain purposes, and that this co-operation +will not only secure some good results of an immediate character, +results that can be seen and appreciated by everyone, but that it will +teach the spirit of co-operation--and there is hardly anything more +needed today in rural life than this spirit of co-operation. The schools +can perform no better service than in training young people to work +together for common ends. In this work such things as special day +programmes, as for Arbor Day, Washington's Birthday, Pioneer Day; the +holding of various school exhibitions; the preparation of exhibits for +county fairs, and similar endeavors, are useful and are being carried +out in many of our rural schools. But the best example of this work is a +plan that is being used in the state of Maine, and is performed through +the agency of what is called a School Improvement League. The purposes +of the league are: (1) to improve school grounds and buildings; (2) to +furnish suitable reading-matter for pupils and people; (3) to provide +works of art for schoolrooms. There are three forms of the league, the +local leagues organized in each school; the town leagues, whose +membership consists of the officers of the local leagues; and a state +league, whose members are delegates from the town leagues and members of +the local leagues who hold school diplomas. Any pupil, teacher, school +officer, or any other citizen may join the league on payment of the +dues. The minimum dues are one cent a month for each pupil, for other +members not less than ten cents a term. But these dues may be made +larger by vote of the league. Each town league sends a delegate to the +meeting of the state league. Each league has the usual number of +officers elected for one term. These leagues were first organized in +1898 and they have already accomplished much. They have induced school +committees to name various rural schools for distinguished American +citizens, as Washington, Lincoln, and so forth. They give exhibitions +and entertainments for the purpose of raising funds. Sometimes they use +these funds to buy books for the schoolroom. The books are then loaned +to the members of the league; at the end of the term this set of books +is exchanged for another set of books from another school in the same +township. In this way, at a slight expense, each school may have the use +of a large number of books every year. The same thing is done with +pictures and works of art, these being purchased and exchanged in the +same way. Through the efforts of the league schoolhouses have been +improved, inside and out, and the school grounds improved. It is not so +much the doing of new things that has been attempted by this league. +The important item is that the school has been _organized_ for these +definite purposes, and the work is carried on systematically from year +to year. It needs no argument to show the value of this sort of +co-operation to the pupil, to the teacher, to the school, to the +parents, and ultimately to the community as a whole. + +3. A third method is through co-operation between the home and the +school, between the teacher and pupils on one side, and parents and +taxpayers on the other side. Parents sometimes complain that the average +school is a sort of mill, or machine, into which their children are +placed and turned out just so fast, and in just such condition. But if +this is the case, it is partly the fault of the parents who do not keep +in close enough touch with the work of the school. It is not that +parents are not interested in their children, but it is rather that they +look at the school as something separate from the ordinary affairs of +life. Now, nothing can be more necessary than that this notion should be +done away with. There must be the closest co-operation between the home +and school. How can this co-operation be brought about? Frequently +parents are urged to visit the schools. This is all right and proper, +but it is not enough. There must be a closer relation than this. The +teacher must know more about the home life of her pupils, and the +parents must know far more about the whole purpose and spirit, as well +as the method, of the school. A great deal of good has been done by the +joint meeting of teachers and school officers. It is a very wise device, +and should be kept up. But altogether the most promising development +along this line is the so-called "Hesperia movement," described in +another chapter. These meetings of school patrons and teachers take up +the work of the school in a way that will interest both teachers and +farmers. They bring the teachers and farmers into closer touch socially +and intellectually. They disperse fogs of misunderstanding. They inspire +to closer co-operation. They create mutual sympathy. They are sure to +result in bringing the teacher into closer touch with community life and +with the social problems of the farm. And they are almost equally sure +to arouse the interest of the entire community, not only in the school +as an institution and in the possibilities of the work it may do, but +also in the work of that teacher who is for the time being serving a +particular rural school. + +4. A fourth method is by making the schoolhouse a meeting-place for the +community, more especially for the intellectual and aesthetic activities +of the community. A good example of this kind of work is the John Spry +School of Chicago. In connection with this school there is a lecture +course each winter; there is a musical society that meets every Tuesday +evening; there is a men's club that meets every two weeks to discuss +municipal problems and the improvement of home conditions; there is a +woman's club to study for general improvement and social service; there +is a mothers' council meeting every two weeks; there is a literary and +dramatic society, meeting every week, composed of members of high-school +age, and studying Shakespeare particularly; there is a dressmaking and +aid society meeting two evenings a week, to study the cutting of +patterns, garment-making, etc.; a food-study and cooking club, also +meeting two evenings a week; an inventive and mechanical club, meeting +two evenings a week, and tending to develop the inventive and mechanical +genius of a group of young men; an art club; and a boy's club, with +music, games, reading-lessons, reading of books and magazines, intended +for boys of fourteen or fifteen years of age. These things are all +under the direction of the school, they are free, they are designed to +educate. It will not be feasible for the rural school to carry out such +a programme as this, but do we realize how large are the possibilities +of this idea of making the rural school a community center? No doubt one +of the advantages of the centralized rural school will be to give a +central meeting-place for the township, and to encourage work of the +character that has been described. Of course, the Grange and farmers' +clubs are doing much along these lines, but is it not possible for the +district school also to do some useful work of this character? +Singing-schools and debating clubs were quite a common thing in the +rural schools forty years ago, and there are many rural schools today +that are doing work of this very kind. Is there any reason, for example, +why the country schoolhouse should not offer an evening school during a +portion of the winter, where the older pupils who have left the regular +work of the school can carry on studies, especially in agriculture and +domestic science? There is need for this sort of thing, and if our +agricultural colleges, and the departments of public instruction, and +the local school supervisors, and the country teachers, and the farmers +themselves, could come a little closer together on these questions the +thing could be done! + +5. Fifth and last, as a method for making the school a social center, is +the suggestion that the teacher herself shall become something of a +leader in the farm community. The teacher ought to be not only a teacher +of the pupils, but in some sense a teacher of the community. Is there +not need that someone should take the lead in inspiring everyone in the +community to read better books, to buy better pictures, to take more +interest in the things that make for culture and progress? There are +special difficulties in a country community. The rural teacher is +usually a transient; she secures a city school as soon as she can; she +is often poorly paid; she is sometimes inexperienced; frequently the +labor of the school absorbs all her time and energy. Unfortunately these +things are so, but they ought not to be so. And we shall never have the +ideal rural school until we have conditions favorable to the kind of +work just described. The country teacher ought to understand the country +community, ought to have some knowledge of the problems that the farmers +have to face, ought to have some appreciation of the peculiar +conditions of farm life. Every teacher should have some knowledge of +rural sociology. The normal schools should make this subject a required +subject in the course, especially for country teachers. Teachers' +institutes and reading-circles should in some way provide this sort of +thing. This is one of the most important means of bringing the rural +school into closer touch with the farm community. Ten years ago Henry +Sabin, of Iowa, one of the keenest students of the rural-school problem, +in speaking of the supervision of country schools, said: + + + The supervisor of rural schools should be acquainted with the + material resources of his district. He should know not only what + constitutes good farming, but the prevailing industry of the region + should be so familiar to him that he can converse intelligently + with the inhabitants, and convince them that he knows something + besides books. The object is not alone to gain influence over them, + but to bring the school into touch with the home life of the + community about. It is not to invite the farmer to the school, but + to take the school to the farm, and to show the pupils that here + before their eyes are the foundations upon which have been built + the great natural sciences. + + +The programme needed to unite rural school and farm community is then, +first, to enrich the course of study by adding nature-study and +agriculture, and about these co-ordinating the conventional school +subjects; second, to encourage the co-operation of the pupils, +especially for the improvement of the school and its surroundings; +third, to bring together for discussion and acquaintance the teachers +and the patrons of the school; fourth, so far as possible to make the +schoolhouse a meeting-place for the community, for young people as well +as for older people, where music, art, social culture, literature, study +of farming, and in fact, anything that has to do with rural education, +may be fostered; and fifth, to expect the teacher to have a knowledge of +the industrial and general social conditions of agriculture, especially +those of the community in which her lot is cast. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE GRANGE + + +The difficulty of uniting the farmers of America for any form of +co-operative endeavor long ago became proverbial. The business of +farming encouraged individualism; comparative isolation bred +independence; and restricted means of communication made union +physically difficult, even among those who might be disposed to unite. +It was not strange, therefore, that the agricultural masses developed a +state of mind unfavorable for organization--that they became suspicious +of one another, jealous of leadership, unwilling to keep the pledges of +union, and unable to sink personal views and prejudices. + +It must not be supposed, however, that the farmers themselves have +failed to realize the situation, or that no genuinely progressive steps +have been taken to remedy it. During the last four decades at least, the +strongest men that the rural classes have produced have labored with +their fellows, both in season and out of season, for union of effort; +and their efforts have been by no means in vain. It is true that some of +the attempts at co-operation have been ill-judged, even fantastic. It +is true that much of the machinery of organization failed to work and +can be found on the social junk-pile, in company with other discarded +implements not wholly rural in origin. But it is also true that great +progress has been made; that the spirit of co-operation is rapidly +emerging as a factor in rural social life; and that the weapons of rural +organization have a temper all the better, perhaps, because they were +fashioned on the anvil of defeat. + +Among all these efforts to unite the farming classes, by far the most +characteristic and the most successful is the Grange. The truth of this +statement will immediately be questioned by those whose memory recalls +the early rush to the Grange, "Granger legislation," and similar +phenomena, as well as by those whose impressions have been gleaned from +reading the periodicals of the late seventies, when the Grange tide had +begun to ebb. Indeed, it seems to be the popular impression that the +Grange is not at present a force of consequence, that long ago it became +a cripple, if not a corpse. Only a few years ago, an intelligent +magazine writer, in discussing the subject of farmers' organizations, +made the statement, "The Grange is dead." But the assertion was not +true. The popular impression must be revised. The Grange has +accomplished more for agriculture than has any other farm organization. +Not only is it at the present time active, but it has more real +influence than it has ever had before; and it is more nearly a +_national_ farmers' organization than any other in existence today. + +The Grange is also the oldest of the general organizations for farmers. +Though the notion of organizing the farmers was undoubtedly broached +early in the history of the country, the germ idea that actually grew +into the Grange is about forty years old, and should be credited to Mr. +O. H. Kelley, a Boston young man who settled on a Minnesota farm in +1849. He wrote considerably for the agricultural press; and this +experience helped to bring him to the conclusion that the great need of +agriculture was the education of the agriculturist. He soon came to feel +that existing agencies for this purpose--farm papers and fairs--were +insufficient. In 1866, as agent for the Department of Agriculture, Mr. +Kelley made a tour of the South, with the view of gaining a knowledge of +the agricultural and mineral resources of that section. On this tour he +became impressed with the fact that politicians would never restore +peace to the country; that if it came at all, it would have to come +through fraternity. As his thought ripened he broached to friends the +idea of a "secret society of agriculturists, as an element to restore +kindly feelings among the people." + +Thus the Grange was born of two needs, one fundamental and the other +immediate. The fundamental need of agriculture was that farmers should +be better educated for their business; and the immediate need was that +of cultivating the spirit of brotherhood between the North and the +South. The latter need no longer exists; but the fundamental need still +remains and is sufficient excuse for the Grange's existence today. Mr. +Kelley interested six other men in the new idea; and in December, 1867, +these "seven founders of the order" organized the National Grange of +Patrons of Husbandry. Mr. Kelley is the only one of these seven men now +living. + +Thus was begun a movement for organization that had resulted by 1873 in +the formation of over 20,000 Granges in 28 states, comprising not less +than 750,000 members; and in that year the National Grange, as a +representative body, was officially organized. For four or five years +this unexampled prosperity continued; then the reports show a feeling of +weakness creeping in. In fact, the order as a whole steadily declined in +numbers and prestige during the whole of the decade following 1880. The +losses were most serious, however, in the South and West; for in New +England and the Middle States it retained its vitality, and, indeed, +grew steadily. + +During the last fifteen years there has been a widespread revival of +interest in the organization and the outlook is exceedingly promising. +During the decade following 1890 the membership increased not less than +75 per cent. During the last few years the rate of gain has been even +greater. The following table gives the official records in the five +leading Grange states: + + + ========================================================= + | 1900 | 1905 + | ------------------------------------------ + | Granges | Members | Granges | Members + -------------|------------------------------------------- + New York | 550 | 43,000 | 582 | 66,500 + Maine | 275 | 29,000 | 387 | 49,000 + Michigan | 420 | 25,000 | 731 | 45,000 + Pennsylvania | 526 | 20,000 | 560 | 34,000 + New Hampshire| 260 | 24,000 | 263 | 28,000 + --------------------------------------------------------- + + +These states lead, but the order is also active and strong in Vermont, +Connecticut, Ohio, Massachusetts. Thirty states pay dues to the +National Grange treasury, and twenty-six were represented by delegates +at the last National Grange. Since 1905 there has been substantial +growth in most of these twenty-six states, both in numbers of Granges +and in membership. + +The official title of the Grange is "Patrons of Husbandry," of the +members, "Patrons," and of the various divisions, "Granges." The +"subordinate Grange," or local lodge, is the Grange unit. Its area of +jurisdiction has, nominally, a diameter of about five miles; more +roughly, "a Grange to a township" is the working ideal among the +organizers. The membership consists of men and women, and of young +people over fourteen years of age, who may apply and by vote be +accepted. Constitutionally, those whose interests are not immediately +with agriculture are ineligible to membership; and care is also +exercised that only those who are of good repute shall be recommended. +The presiding officer of each Grange is the "master;" while among the +twelve other officers the "lecturer" is the most important, and +virtually acts as programme committee, with charge of the educational +work of the body. Meetings are held weekly or fortnightly. Each regular +meeting has first its business session, and then its "lecturer's hour," +or literary session, usually with an intervening recess for social +greetings, etc. The programmes are prepared by the lecturer, and consist +of general discussions, essays, talks, debates, readings, recitations, +and music; an attempt being made to suit the tastes and talents of all +members, young and old. Many Granges have built and own their halls, +which are usually equipped with kitchen and dining-room, in addition to +audience rooms; for periodical "feasts" are as regular a feature of the +association as are the initiations of new members. + +The Granges of a county or other given district often organize +themselves into a "Pomona Grange." The "State Grange" is a delegate +body, meeting annually; delegates being chosen by the subordinate and +Pomona Granges. The "National Grange" is composed of the masters of +State Granges and their wives, and is also an annual gathering. The +National Grange is the legislative body of the order, and has full +authority in all matters of doctrine and practice. But to State Granges +is left the determination of policy and administration for the states. +The State Granges, in turn, legislate for the subordinate Granges, while +also passing down to them ample local powers. The machinery is thus +strongly centralized, and subordinate Granges are absolutely dependent +units of a great whole. Yet the principle of home rule pervades the +organization; and local associations are responsible for their own +methods and the results of their work, though their officers usually +work in harmony with the State and National Granges. + +Perhaps the clearest conception of what the order originally meant to do +can be gained from a few quotations from the Declaration of Purposes of +the National Grange, which was promulgated over thirty years ago, and is +still in force: + + + We shall endeavor to advance our cause by laboring to accomplish + the following objects: + + To develop a better and higher manhood and womanhood among + ourselves. To enhance the comfort and attractions of our homes and + to strengthen our attachments to our pursuits. To foster mutual + understanding and co-operation. To maintain inviolate our laws, and + to emulate each other in labor, to hasten the good time coming. To + reduce our expenses, both individual and corporate. To buy less and + produce more, in order to make our farms self-sustaining. To + diversify our crops and crop no more than we can cultivate. To + condense the weight of our exports, selling less in the bushel and + more on hoof and in fleece; less in lint and more in warp and woof. + To systematize our work, and calculate intelligently on + probabilities. To discountenance the credit system, the mortgage + system, the fashion system, and every other system tending to + prodigality and bankruptcy. + + We propose meeting together, talking together, working together, + buying together, selling together, and, in general, acting together + for our mutual protection and advancement, as occasion may require. + We shall avoid litigation, as much as possible, by arbitration in + the Grange. We shall constantly strive to secure entire harmony, + good will, vital brotherhood, among ourselves, and to make our + order perpetual. We shall earnestly endeavor to suppress personal, + local, sectional, and national prejudices, all unhealthy rivalry, + all selfish ambition. Faithful adherence to these principles will + insure our mental, moral, social, and material advancement. + + For our business interests we desire to bring producers and + consumers, farmers and manufacturers, into the most direct and + friendly relations possible. Hence we must dispense with a surplus + of middle-men, not that we are unfriendly to them, but we do not + need them. Their surplus and their exactions diminish our profits. + + We wage no aggressive warfare against any other interests whatever. + On the contrary, all our acts and all our efforts, so far as + business is concerned, are not only for the benefit of the producer + and consumer, but also for all other interests that tend to bring + these two parties into speedy and economical contact. Hence we hold + that transportation companies of every kind are necessary to our + success, that their interests are intimately connected with our + interests. + + We are opposed to such spirit and management of any corporation or + enterprise as tends to oppress the people, and rob them of their + just profits. We are not enemies to capital, but we oppose the + tyranny of monopolies. We long to see the antagonism between + capital and labor removed by common consent, and by an enlightened + statesmanship worthy of the nineteenth century. We are opposed to + excessive salaries, high rates of interest, and exorbitant + per-cent. profits in trade. + + We shall advance the cause of education among ourselves and for our + children, by all just means within our power. We especially + advocate for our agricultural and industrial colleges that + practical agriculture, domestic science, and all the arts which + adorn the home be taught in their courses of study. + + We emphatically and sincerely assert the oft-repeated truth taught + in our organic law, that the Grange--national, state, or + subordinate--is not a political or party organization. No Grange, + if true to its obligations, can discuss political or religious + questions, or call political conventions, or nominate candidates, + or even discuss their merits at its meetings. + + We always bear in mind that no one, by becoming a Patron of + Husbandry, gives up that inalienable right and duty which belongs + to every American citizen, to take a proper interest in the + politics of his country. On the contrary, it is his duty to do all + he can in his own party to put down bribery, corruption, and + trickery; to see that none but competent, faithful, and honest men, + who will unflinchingly stand by our industrial interests, are + nominated for all positions of trust; and to have carried out the + principle which should characterize every Patron, that the office + should seek the man, and not the man the office. + + +To enumerate the achievements of the Grange would be to recall the +progress of agriculture during the past third of a century. It has been +a motor force in many helpful movements, and in many ways has organized +and incorporated the best thought of the most intelligent farmers, about +means for rural advancement. It has been an integral part of, and a most +potent factor in, the expansion of American farm life. + +The greatest achievement of the order is that it has taught the farmers +of America the value of co-operation and the power of organized effort. +The lesson has not been fully learned, it is true; but the success of +the institution testifies that it is possible for farmers to work in +harmony. It is worth observing that this result has been achieved on +conservative lines. It is comparatively easy to organize on radical +lines; easy to generate enthusiasm by promising some great reform; easy +to inflame self-interest by picturing millennial conditions, especially +when the pocket is touched. But quite different is it to arouse and +sustain interest in a large popular organization whose object is +education, whose watchword is self-culture. Of course, it would be but +a half-truth to assert that the order places all its emphasis on the +sober problems of education. Agitation has had its place; the hope of +better things for the farmer, to be achieved through legislation and +business co-operation, has been an inspiration to activity; but the +noteworthy fact remains that it has secured a fair degree of +organization and co-operation among farmers chiefly by appeals to their +larger and nobler interests. + +That the association has vastly improved the social opportunities of +farmers is a trite saying among old observers of its work. It forces +isolation out of the saddle. The regular meetings of the local bodies +rapidly and surely develop the social instinct among the members. Pomona +Granges bring together members from all parts of the county and make +them acquainted with one another. The State Grange draws its membership +from every corner of the state; and as its personnel changes each year, +thousands are in the course of a few years given the wider outlook, the +more extended acquaintance, and the broader view that participation in +such a gathering affords. Special social features add their influence. + +As an educator on public questions the Grange has done a noble work. At +nearly every meeting in this country, some topic of public concern is +brought up by essay, talk, general discussion, or formal debate. The +views of the "village Hampdens" may not always be economically +scientific or scholarly. But it might surprise many people to see how +well read the members are and how clearly they can express their ideas. +Their discussions are not seldom informative, and that they make public +opinion in rural communities is beyond cavil. The persistent advocacy of +specific reforms has directed the thought of the members toward the +larger issues that so often rise above the haze of partisan politics. + +The order has prepared the soil for adequate agricultural education. +While the agricultural colleges formerly had many enemies among the +farmers, and received scornful opprobrium from those whom they were +endeavoring to help, almost without exception the Granges have praised +the colleges, welcomed their work, and urged farmers to educate their +sons at these institutions. Farmers' institutes, the agricultural +experiment stations, and the federal Department of Agriculture have been +equally welcomed by the Grange sentiment. The Grange has always taught +the need of better rural education. It has also tended to develop its +members, so that they may not only appreciate education, but that they +may be themselves living examples of the value of such education. +Farmers' institute lecturers frequently say, "You can always tell when +you reach a community where a Grange exists." In that meeting will be +found men who have read and thought on farm and public themes, men who +are not only ready in discussion, apt in statement, and eager to +question, but men acquainted with parliamentary law, who know how such +assemblages should be conducted, and who can preside with dignity and +grace. + +The order has undoubtedly aided materially in obliterating sectionalism. +That achievement was one of its avowed objects. There is no question but +it assisted in cementing North and South; and that it has brought East +and West into closer sympathy is equally true. Other farm organizations +have found their incentive in the order. These it has never frowned on, +though believing and always hoping that it might attract the majority of +farmers to its own ranks, and by this unity become a more powerful +factor in securing the rights and developing the opportunities of the +rural classes of America. It has always discountenanced the credit +system; and that cash payments by farmers to merchants are far more +common than a quarter-century ago may be fairly credited, in part at +least, to its influence. + +To describe the many specific legislative achievements which the Granges +of the nation and of the several states have accomplished would be +tedious. Merely to enumerate a few of them must suffice here. A +convenient summary is made from an official circular recently issued by +the National Grange. The order has had a large influence in securing the +following: The separation of certain agricultural colleges from +universities which were receiving the land-grant funds, but were not, in +the opinion of the farmers, duly contributing to agricultural education; +the confining of the appropriations under the second Morrill act of 1890 +strictly to instruction in agriculture and mechanical arts; the Hatch +Act of 1887, establishing an experiment station in each state and +territory; making the head of the Department of Agriculture a cabinet +official; the agitation resulting in the famous Iowa court decision, +that railroad franchises are subject to the power that created them; the +establishment of the Inter-State Commerce Commission; tax reform in +many states; laws favoring pure food and dairy products; preventing +extension of patents on sewing machines; the establishment of rural free +mail delivery. + +The methods of work are many and varied. In addition to the regular +literary and social programmes previously mentioned, socials are held at +the homes of members, entertainments of various kinds occur at the +Grange hall, and in many ways the association becomes the center of the +social and intellectual interest of the community. It is debating +society, club, lecture course, parliamentary society, theater, and +circulating library. In fact, it lends itself to almost any function +that will instruct, entertain, benefit, or assist its members +financially, morally, intellectually, or socially. Of course, not every +Grange is awake to its opportunities; but as a rule, where a live one +exists it is the acknowledged leader in social movements. + +It is not uncommon for Granges to hold fairs for the exhibition of +agricultural and domestic products. The State Fair of New Hampshire has +been largely managed by the Grange. In many cases Granges as +organizations will exhibit at the ordinary county or district fair. +Picnics and field meetings are coming to be very popular in some +states. They are held during the summer season, at a time when work is +least pressing, and are usually attended by speakers of prominence in +the order. Many subordinate Granges give public lecture courses during +the winter, securing speakers on general themes. They also arrange for +entertainments of a popular character. + +The order also participates in activities that are not strictly Grange +work. For instance, in Michigan, the State Grange for several years +carried on a "Fresh-Air Work," by which over 1,000 working-girls, +children, and hard-working mothers with babies, from the larger cities, +were given a two-weeks' vacation in country homes. The philanthropic +agencies of the cities arranged for transportation and secured the +beneficiaries, while the Grange obtained the places for them. Granges +are always active in the organization of farmers' institutes, +agricultural fairs, etc. In Michigan they have assisted in the +organization of associations which are designed to bring together both +teachers and parents for discussion of rural-school problems. + +On two important matters the Grange has been misunderstood, not only by +the public, but more unfortunately, sometimes by its own members. In +his _Division and Reunion_, President Woodrow Wilson speaks of it under +the sub-title of "New Parties." Professor Alexander Johnston, in his +_American Politics_ was more discriminating, for he said of it: "In its +nature it is not political." But he also said: "Its object is +co-operation among farmers, in purchasing and in other business +interests." The first conception of the character of the order is wholly +misleading; the second is inadequate. + +The Grange is not a party. It never was a party. During the "Granger +legislation" period, many members doubtless misconceived the true +function of the Grange, and abused the power organization gave them, +while the popular mind credited the association with many notions for +which it was not responsible. It has never organized itself as a +farmers' party. The National Grange has endeavored to keep strictly +aloof from partisan politics. It is possible that in some states the +influence of the organization was, in the early days, used for partisan +purposes; but the penalty was fully paid in the disruption of the order +in those states. The Grange today regards partisanship as poisonous to +its life, and does not allow it on its shelves. + +This is not to say that the Grange makes no appeal to legislation. It +is possible that in some cases it places too much faith in law as a +means of emancipation from economic bondage; but, in the main, its +legislative point of view is sane and conservative. It believes that +such ills as are due to bad or imperfect legislation can be, at least +partly, relieved by good or more perfect legislation. Nor does it limit +its interest to measures that concern the farmer alone. It is +unalterably opposed to class legislation, and aims to keep its own +skirts clear--to avoid even the suspicion of offence in this particular. + +It may be asked, How does the order manage to advocate public measures +without becoming involved in partisan squabbles? Simply by ceasing to +discuss a question the moment it becomes a party football. For instance: +the monetary policy of the government was warmly discussed until the +conventions of 1896 made it clear that it was to be a party issue. +Again: the Grange has consistently urged the construction and ownership +of the Interoceanic Canal by the United States government; but it was +silent on the larger question of "imperialism," not because the question +was not of importance, but because it became a subject of party +controversy. This neutral policy as to party questions imposes certain +limitations on the influence of the organization; but experience has +demonstrated that this, more than any other thing, is responsible for +the fact that the Grange still lives and thrives. + +The other misconception lies in the sentence quoted from Professor +Johnston, that the Grange has for its object "co-operation among farmers +in purchasing and in other business interests;" the implication being +that business was the chief function. It is generally admitted that in +the early days thousands joined the order "for what there was in it;" +believing that the organization furnished a means for abolishing the +middlemen, and putting ready money into the pockets of the farmers. When +these sordid souls were disillusioned, their enthusiasm went down to the +zero of activity. They misunderstood, or interpreted too radically, a +well-defined, conservative, legitimate purpose of the Grange to +co-operate on business lines. The order did believe that farmers could +do without the surplus of middlemen; it did purpose to aid the farmer +financially, though this purpose was not its main function. In the +earlier period Grange stores were organized. A few of these are in +successful operation today, but the policy as a whole has been +abandoned. + +Another plan, discussed over thirty years ago, has during the past +decade come to assume practical importance as a method of co-operation +on business lines. The plan, in brief, is that various State Granges +contract with manufacturing and jobbing houses to furnish members of the +order with goods at practically wholesale rates. Goods are ordered by +the subordinate Granges, under seal of the order; are purchased on a +cash basis; and are shipped to the purchasing agent of the Grange, and +by him distributed to the individual buyers. Such materials as binder +twine, salt, harness, Paris green, all kinds of farm implements, +vehicles, sewing-machines, and fruit trees are purchased advantageously. +Even staple groceries, etc., are sometimes bought in this way. Members +often save enough in single purchases to pay all their expenses for the +Grange. There is no capital invested; there are no debts imposed upon +himself by the purchaser; and there has not been extreme difficulty in +securing favorable contracts. The plan seems destined to continued +enlargement and usefulness as a legitimate phase of business +co-operation. Michigan Granges purchased not less than $350,000 worth +of goods during 1905, under such a plan. The estimate for Maine is over +half a million dollars. + +In several states the organization successfully conducts mutual fire +insurance companies; active membership in the Grange being an essential +requisite for membership in the insurance company. Wherever these +companies have become well established, it is asserted that they +maintain a lower rate of assessment than even the popular "farmers' +mutuals." In New York there are twenty-three Grange companies, with +policies aggregating $85,000,000, the average cost for the year 1905 +being $1.96 per thousand. Single companies claim to have secured even +better rates. This insurance not only pays individuals, but it attracts +and holds members. In New Hampshire a fairly successful Grange life +insurance company exists. + +In co-operative selling, the order has so far accomplished very little, +except locally and among individuals or Granges. There is a supreme +difficulty in the way of successful transfers among patrons themselves, +as members desiring to buy wish the very lowest prices; those desiring +to sell, the very highest prices. Arbitration under such circumstances +is not easy. The fundamental obstacle to members selling together on +the general market is that, in most cases, all members do not have the +same things to sell. A co-operative creamery, for instance, is organized +on the basis of a _product_--butter; the Grange is organized on the +basis of _manhood_--and each man may have his crop or stock specialty. +This difficulty, though grave, is not, perhaps, insuperable, and will +tend to disappear as membership enlarges. But it is only fair to state +that, so far, the Grange has not been able to devise any successful plan +for co-operative selling, applicable on a large scale. + +There are two or three features that deserve further mention. One is the +position of the family in the Grange. It is stated that the Grange was +the first secret organization to place woman on a plane of perfect +equality with man. In every association each female member has a vote. +Woman has four special offices assigned to her sex, and is eligible to +any office in the gift of the order. The majority of subordinate +lecturers are women; many subordinate and even Pomona masters are women; +Michigan's state lecturer is a woman who is revolutionizing the +educational work of the order in that state; while Minnesota had for +some years a competent and earnest woman as state master. Every +delegate to every State Grange is a dual delegate--man and wife. The +state master and his wife are delegates to the National Grange. Women +serve on all committees in these gatherings, and a woman's voice is +frequently heard in debates. And not only the wife, but, as previously +stated, the children above fourteen years of age may attain full +membership. A large proportion of every healthy Grange consists of young +people, who have their share in the active work. Thus it will be seen +that the order conserves the family life. It is doubtful if any other +social institution in rural communities, not excepting the church, so +completely interests the entire family. + +The organization is also a conservator of morals. While sectarian +discussions are as foreign to its purposes as is partisan politics, and +while it does not even pretend to take the place of the church, it is +built on a truly religious foundation. Its ritual is permeated, in word +and in sentiment, by the religious spirit. Every meeting opens and +closes with prayer. Moral character is constantly eulogized and +glorified in Grange esoteric literature. The membership comes almost +exclusively from that large class of farmers who are moral, +high-minded, God-fearing men and women. + +The Grange has been opposed, both by farmers and by others, because +secrecy is not a desirable attribute; but the experience of forty years +and the uniform testimony of all leaders in the work declare that this +was a wise provision. No influential member has, so far as it is known, +proposed that the order should be dismantled of its secret features. The +ritualistic work is not burdensome. Occasionally the processes of +initiation may take time that ought to be allotted to educational work; +but, if the initiation is properly conducted, it has of itself a high +educational value. + +The financial status of the Grange itself is worth noting. The fees for +joining are merely nominal, while the dues are only ten cents a month +per member. These fees and dues support the subordinate Granges, the +State Grange, and the National Grange. There are no high-salaried +officials in the order, and few salaried positions of any kind. The +National Grange today has nearly $100,000 in its treasury, and several +State Granges have substantial reserves. This policy is pursued, not for +the love of hoarding, but because it is believed that it tends to the +permanency and solidarity of the order. + +The Grange is a live institution; it has within itself the capacity for +satisfying a great need in rural society; and it is destined to growth +and larger and more permanent usefulness. It is based on correct +principles: organization, co-operation, education. It is neither a +political party nor a business agency. It is progressively +conservative--or conservatively progressive. It is neither ultra-radical +nor forever in the rut. Its chief work is on cultural lines. It includes +the entire family. It is now growing, and there is every reason for +thinking that this growth is of a permanent character. + +The Grange is ambitious to take its place beside the school and the +church, as one of a trinity of forces that shall mold the life of the +farmer on the broadest possible basis--material, intellectual, social, +and ethical. Is there any good reason why this ambition is not worthy, +or why its goal should not be won? + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +OPPORTUNITIES FOR FARM WOMEN + + +While rural life is often supposed to be fatally deficient in facilities +for growth because of its isolation, the women living on our farms are +thought to be the especial victims of this lack of social opportunity. +No doubt there is much of truth in the popular opinion. Modern city life +unquestionably tends to enliven, to sharpen, to put a razor-edge on +capacity. Naturally the women as well as the men of the city are thus +stimulated. An instance of the opportunities constantly presented to the +city women is the rapid multiplication of women's clubs, which, +especially in smaller towns, are absolutely revolutionizing the life of +womankind. But have not the women of the country some resources of a +similar character? Can they not in some way break the bonds of +isolation? Are there not for them some of the blessings that come from a +highly organized society? Are there not, in the country also, +opportunities for the co-operation of mind and heart for common service? +I think all these questions can be answered in the affirmative. It is +at least worth while to endeavor to describe several means by which the +woman of the farm can keep pace with her urban sister, and under +conditions not so discouraging as many may suppose. + +Probably no movement has had such a profound significance for the farm +women of America as has the Grange movement. We have already discussed +the general aspects of Grange work. It must be remembered that the +farmer's wife is practically equal with her husband in Grange law and +practice. She votes, she may hold office, even the higher executive +offices. A delegate to the State Grange is always two--a man and his +wife if he has one. The wife serves on committees and votes as she +pleases. This equality extends throughout the order. The woman bears her +share of work; she reads papers; she directs the social phases of the +Grange; she talks on farm topics if she wants to; she debates school +affairs; she visits neighboring Granges. All this means education, and +education of a very valuable sort, the effects of which permeate so +thoroughly those communities where the Grange has long been established +that one hardly realizes the work that has been accomplished. For it is +not at all an exaggeration to assert that a positive revolution often +comes about from the planting of a Grange in a neighborhood where no +such organization has ever existed. It finds most of the women +diffident, many of them with restricted views, few of them with the +instinct for social service developed beyond the needs of friendly +neighbors. In the Grange these women find new acquaintances, learn the +power of concerted action, meet the responsibility of office, get to +their feet for a few words--unheard-of courage! Such speech is usually +brief and perhaps not ready, but it is likely to be cogent, because it +is born of experience and "stops when through." County and perhaps State +Granges add their experiences. And so on through the years these shy, +reserved, possibly narrow, lives come to flower. And the Grange has +furnished the dynamic. Strong leaders among farm women have been +developed by the opportunities the Grange has afforded them. And +thousands of other women in all parts of the country have by this same +means grown out of their narrowness, "discovered themselves," and become +comparatively cultured, well read, able to take a woman's place in this +day of woman's power as a public factor. It is safe to say that the +Grange has been the greatest single influence in America with respect to +the development of the women of the farm. + +Another factor in the life of farm women which has arisen in more recent +years is the farmers' institute. The audiences in some cases are largely +of men, but as a rule the attendance of women averages one-third to +one-half. Until very recent years the women joined with the men in all +sessions of the institute, and their presence was recognized by +appropriate subjects on the programme, frequently presented by women +themselves. Several years ago Minnesota and Wisconsin initiated separate +meetings for women, held simultaneously with the main meeting, for +purposes of instruction in domestic science. Michigan, a little later, +developed the "women's section" of the farmers' institute. This is held +one afternoon of the usual two-day session of the institute in a hall +separate from the general meeting, and only women attend. Two topics are +presented for discussion, one by a woman sent by the state, the other by +a woman from the town or a neighboring farm. Topics concerning +child-training, making housework easier, home life on the farm, and even +themes relating to the problems that center about the sex question, are +thoroughly discussed. Women take part much more freely than they do in +the general sessions of the institute. Across the border, in Ontario, +the women have formed separate institutes, as they have also in Indiana. + +All this means a new opportunity for the farm woman. The Grange is an +organization, and its members gain all the development that comes from +engaging in the work required to maintain a semi-literary and social +organization. The institute, on the other hand, is an event, and there +cluster about it all the inspiration and suggestion that can come from +any notable convention for which one will sacrifice not a little in +order to attend. Institute work for women is in its beginnings. + +So far we have found that existing institutions for women in rural +districts bring together merely the women of the farm. In the women's +section of the institutes half the audience is usually from the town. +This meeting occurs, however, but once a year, and the social effect of +the commingling of city and farm women can prove only suggestive of the +desirability of further opportunity for similar gatherings. At a +Michigan institute some years ago this desire fructified, and the +product was a "Town and Country Club." This club secured a majority of +its membership, of some ninety, from among women residing on farms. Its +meetings are bi-weekly. It is to be hoped that this sort of club may be +organized in large numbers. It represents another step in the +emancipation of the farm woman, because it brings her into contact with +her city sister--and contact that is immediate, vital, inspiring, +continuous, and mutually helpful. It may be thought unnecessary to form +a new set of clubs for the purpose indicated, but the fact seems to be +that the ordinary women's club even in small towns has failed to reach +the woman who makes her home upon the farm. + +Another feature of this idea of the Town and Country Club is the "rest +room" for farmers' wives. In a number of cases where this has been +tried, the women of the village or town provide a room as near the +shopping center of the town as possible, where the country women can +find a place to rest, to lunch, and to leave their children. These rooms +are fitted up in a neat but inexpensive manner with the necessary +conveniences, and are entirely free to those for whom they were +intended. If these rooms are well managed, they offer not only a very +practical form of assistance to the women of the farm, but they may be +the means of developing a form of co-operation between the women of the +village and the farm, and eventually leading to some permanent scheme of +mutual work. Possibilities of this sort of thing are easily recognized. + +In the realms of higher education the girl who is to stay upon the farm +has not been wholly neglected. In Kansas, Iowa, Connecticut, Illinois, +Ohio, and Michigan, at least, and in connection with the agricultural +colleges of those states, courses for women (including domestic science) +have been provided. They are well patronized by girls from the farm. +Many of these girls do not marry farmers; many of them do. And their +college training having thus been secured in an atmosphere more or less +agricultural, they must inevitably take rank among their sisters of the +farm as leaders in demonstrating what farm life for women may be. + +Nor should it be forgotten that the tremendous movement of recent years +which has so multiplied standard reading-matter, both periodicals and +books, has reached the farm. A census of country post-offices will +reveal the fact that the standard magazines go regularly to thousands +of farm homes. Agricultural papers, religious papers, and even dailies +find multitudes of intelligent readers among farmers. + +With the advent of better highways, electric car lines, rural free +delivery, and the rural telephone, each of which is looming on the +horizon as an important feature of American farm life; with the Grange +or similar organization in every school district; with the development +of courses for women at all our colleges of agriculture, and the logical +complement of such courses in the form of college extension--farmers' +institutes, reading-courses, traveling libraries, lecture and +correspondence courses--we shall find farm life taking on a new dress, +and perhaps farmers' wives may come to enjoy the envy of those women who +are unfortunate enough not to have married farmers. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE COUNTRY CHURCH AND PROGRESS + + +The only way to an understanding of the relation of the church to rural +progress is through an appreciation of the place which the church as a +social institution may have among other social institutions affecting +rural life. Moreover, to know the value of these institutions one must +first know the rural social needs. May we not then, even at the risk of +repetition, take a brief survey of these needs and institutions, in +order that we may more clearly attain the proper point of view? + +At the outset let us be sure that we have sympathy with the countryman +as such. It is often argued that the rural question, or any phase of it, +as for instance the question of the rural church, is important because +the country supplies the best blood to the city--and a roll-call of the +famous country-born is read to prove the point. This may be all true. +But it is only a partial view, for it places the emphasis upon the +leaving of the farm, whereas the emphasis should be placed upon the farm +and those who stay there. We may praise the country because it +furnishes brain and brawn for the world's work; we may argue for country +life because it possesses a good environment in which to rear a family; +we may demand a school system that shall give the country child as good +a chance as the city child has. In all this we do well. But we do not +yet stand face to face with the rural problem. + +For the rural problem is the problem of those who farm. It is the +problem of the man behind the plow. It is he that is the center of +interest. His business, his success, his manhood, his family, his +environment, his education, his future--these constitute the problem of +the farm. Half our people make their living from the brown soil. In +virtue, in intelligence, in real worth, this half compare favorably with +the other half who saw wood, and shovel sand, and pull throttles, and +prepare briefs, and write sermons. The business of agriculture provides +directly for the material welfare of nearly forty millions of our +people. It supports gigantic railway systems, fills the hulls of immense +ships, furnishes raw material for thousands of industries. This rural +hemisphere of American economic and social life is surely worthy the +thought of the captain of industry, of the statesman, of the economist, +of the educator, of the preacher. We may also, without danger of being +put to confusion, assume that the tiller of the soil is in essential +character very much like other people. Farmer nature is usually a fair +specimen of human nature. Nevertheless the environment of the farmer is +a peculiar one. Individually as well as socially he is comparatively +isolated. He meets but little social friction. The class to which he +belongs is largely a segregated class, physically and socially. + +All these things give to the rural social problem a distinctive +character and give rise to the great social needs of the farmer. What +are these needs? I name three: (1) _Completer organization._ Farmers do +not co-operate easily. They never had to co-operate largely under the +old régime, for pioneer farming placed a premium on individualism. The +present century however, with its emphasis upon organization and +co-operation, calls the farmer to the task with the warning cry that +unless he does organize he is in danger of losing his present +industrial, political, and social status. (2) _Better education._ The +rural schools may not be so deficient as to deserve all the scorn heaped +upon them by educational reformers; but it is little enough to say that +they can be vastly improved. They are not keeping up with city schools. +The country is especially lacking in good high-school privileges. Of +technical training too, in spite of forty years of agricultural +colleges, the country is sadly in need. Neither in primary grades, in +high schools, in special schools, is there an adequate amount of study +of the principles of agriculture--principles which an age of science +demands must be mastered if the independent farmer is to be a success. +(3) _Quicker communication._ Isolation has been the bugbear of farm +life. It must be overcome partly by physical means. There must be a +closer touch between individuals of the class, and between farmers and +the dwellers in the town and city. + +These social needs are in some degree met by the farmers' organizations, +by the rural and agricultural schools, and by the development of new +means of communication. There is a host of minor agencies. In other +chapters I have tried to show how these various institutions are +endeavoring to meet these rural needs. So important are these factors of +rural life that we may now raise the question, What should be the +relation of the rural church to these needs and to the agencies designed +to meet them? In dealing with this phase of the subject, we may best +speak of the church most frequently in terms of the pastor, for reasons +that may appear as we go on. + +There are three things the country pastor may do in order to bring his +church into vital contact with these great sociological movements. Of +course he _may_ ignore them, but that is church suicide. (1) He may +recognize them. This means first of all to understand them, to +appreciate their influence. There is a law of the division of labor that +applies to institutions as well as to individuals. This law helps us to +understand how such institutions as the Grange and farmers' institutes +are doing a work that the church cannot do. They are doing a work that +needs doing. They are serving human need. No pastor can afford to ignore +them, much less in sneer at them as unclean; he may well apply the +lesson of Peter's vision, and accept them as ministers of the kingdom. +(2) He may encourage and stimulate them. The rural pastor may throw +himself into the van of those who strive for better farming, for a +quicker social life, for more adequate educational facilities. He can +well take up the rôle of promoter--a promoter of righteousness and peace +through so-called secular means. Thus shall he perform the highest +function of the prophet--to spiritualize and glorify the common. But the +rural pastor can go even farther. (3) He may co-operate with them. He +may thus assist in uniting with the church all of those other agencies +that make for rural progress, and thus secure a "federation," if not "of +the world," at least of all the forces that are helping to solve the +farm problem; and he may thus found a "parliament," if not "of man," at +least of all who believe that the rural question is worth solving and +that no one movement is sufficient to solve it. + +We come now to the most practical part of our subject, which is, how the +proposed relation between church and other rural social forces may be +secured. There are four suggestions along this line. + +1. Sociological study by the rural pastor. This is fundamental. In +general it means a fairly comprehensive study of sociological +principles, some study of sociological problems, and some practice in +sociological investigation. As it relates to the rural pastor, it means +also a knowledge of rural sociology. It implies a grasp of the +principles and significance of modern agricultural science, an +understanding of the history, status, and needs of rural and +agricultural education, an appreciation of and sympathy for the +co-operative movements among farmers. Does one say, this is asking too +much of the burdened country pastor with his meager salary and +widespread parish? Let me ask if the pastor has any other road to power +except _to know_? Moreover, the task is not so formidable as first +appears. The pastor is supposed to be a trained student, and since he +needs to know these things only in broad lines, the acquiring of them +need not compel the midnight oil. I would, however, urge that every +pastor have a course in general sociology, either in college or in +seminary, and if he has the slightest intimation that his lines will be +cast in country places, that he add a course in rural sociology. +Inasmuch as the latter course is at present offered in few academic +institutions in the United States, it might well be urged that brief +courses in rural sociology be offered at the many summer schools. + +But sociological study by the pastor means more than knowledge of the +general principles of sociology and of the problems of rural sociology; +it means a minute and comprehensive sociological study of his particular +parish. This in its simplest form consists of a religious canvass such +as is frequently made both in country and city. But even this is not +enough. It should at once be supplemented by a very careful and indeed a +continuous sociological canvass, in which details about the whole +business and life of the farm shall be collected and at last assimilated +into the vital structure of the pastor's knowledge of his problem. + +2. The second suggestion looks toward the establishment of a +social-service church, or an institutional church, or again, as one has +phrased it, a "country church industrial." There seems to be a growing +feeling that the country church may become not only the distinctively +religious center of the neighborhood, but also the social, the +intellectual, and the aesthetic center. No doubt there is untold power +in such an idea. No doubt the country church has a peculiarly rich and +inviting field for community service. It would be gratifying if every +country pastor would study the possibilities of this idea and endeavor +to make an experiment with it. I have, however, a supplemental +suggestion, at this point. It is not possible to make of every rural +church an institutional church. The church is notably a conservative +institution. The rural church is in this respect "to the manner born." +Rural church members are likely to be ultra-conservative, especially as +to means and methods. Even if this were not true, we might well lament +any attempt to establish a social-service church that endeavored to make +the church the sole motive power in rural regeneration, that failed to +recognize, to encourage, and to co-operate with the other social forces +which we have mentioned. But if every country pastor cannot have a +social-service church, is it not possible that every country church +shall have a social-service pastor? There are some things the church +cannot _do_; there is nothing it may not through its pastor _inspire_. +There are some uses to which the country church cannot be put; there are +no uses to which the country pastor may not be put--as country pastors +know by experience. The pastor ought to be an authority on social +salvation as well as on personal salvation. He ought to be guide, +philosopher, and friend in community affairs as well as in personal +affairs. Is he not indeed the logical candidate for general social +leadership in the rural community? He is educated, he is trained to +think, he is supposed to have broad grasp of the meaning of affairs, he +usually possesses many of the qualities of leadership. He is +_relatively_ a fixture. He is less transient than the teacher. He is the +only man in the community whose tastes are sociological and who is at +the same time a paid man--all this aside from the question of the +munificence of his stipend. Let us then have the social-service rural +church if we can; but let us have the social-service rural pastor at all +hazards, as the first term in the formula for solving the sociological +problem of the country church. + +3. Co-operation among rural churches. The manifest lack of co-operation +among churches seems to many laymen to result in a tremendous waster of +power. Of course it is a very hard problem. But is it insoluble? It +would seem not. One would think that the plan of union suggested by Dr. +Strong in _The New Era_ is wholly practicable. But the burden of the +suggestion at this point is this: Cannot the churches unite sufficiently +for a thorough religious and sociological canvass? If they cannot +federate on a theological platform, can they not unite on a statistical +platform? If they cannot unite for religious work, can they not join +hands long enough to secure a more intelligent basis for their separate +work? It seems to me that this sort of union is worth while, and that it +is something in which there could be full union, in which "there is +neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free." + +4. The pastor may aid if not lead in the federation of rural social +forces. The idea involved is substantially this: Given a farmers' +organization that ministers chiefly to industrial and economic ends, +though incidentally to moral and educational ones; a school system that +feeds chiefly the accepted educational needs, though acting perhaps as a +moving force in industrial and social betterment; a church which is +chiefly a religious institution, but which touches the life of the +community at many other points--given these things and the obvious next +step is co-operation among them all, in order that a well-balanced kind +of social progress may result. This form of federation means the attempt +to solve the farm problem at all points. It suggests that the army of +rural progress shall march with the wings abreast the center. It means +that the farmer, the editor, the educator, the preacher--all, shall see +the work that needs doing, in all its fulness, and, seeing, shall +resolve to push ahead side by side. + +To sum up: The rural problem is a neglected but exceedingly important +question. Out of the peculiar environment of the farmer grow his +peculiar social needs, namely, better organization, fuller and richer +education, quicker communication. To meet these supreme needs we find a +growing and already powerful coterie of farmers' organizations, somewhat +heterogeneous but rapidly developing plans of agricultural education, +and a marvelous evolution of the means of transportation for body, +voice, and missive. These needs and these agencies are selected as the +conspicuous and vital element in the sociological problem that confronts +the rural pastor. What shall be his attitude toward them? He _may_ +ignore them; but we assume that he will seek to work with them and to +use them for the greater glory of God. He must then recognize them, +encourage them, and co-operate with them. To do this successfully he +must first be a student of sociology; he can then well afford to +meditate upon the possibilities of making his church in some measure a +social-service church or at least of making of himself a social-service +pastor; he can work for church union at least on sociological lines; and +finally he can do his best to secure an active federation of all the +forces involved in the rural problem. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +A SUMMARY OF RECENT PROGRESS + + +In some respects the most notable recent advance in rural matters +consists in the improved means of communication in rural districts. The +country is relatively isolated, and it is this isolation in its extreme +forms that is the bane of country living. Undue conservatism, lack of +conformity to progressive views, undue prominence of class feeling, and +a tendency to be less alert are things that grow out of this isolation; +but better means of communication decrease these difficulties, and the +last few years have seen a remarkable advance in this respect. For +instance, the rural free mail delivery system is only ten years old, and +yet today there are more than twenty-five thousand routes of this +character in the United States serving possibly twenty million people +with daily mail, a great proportion of whom before had very irregular +mail service. Results are patent and marked. Time is saved in going for +mail; market reports come daily; farmers are more prompt in their +business dealings; roads are kept in better shape; there is an +increased circulation of papers and magazines. Thus the farmer is in +closer touch with affairs and much more alert to business opportunities, +to political activities, and to social movements. The circulation of +daily papers in country districts has increased at a marvelous rate. The +amount of letter-writing has increased. Rural delivery of mail arouses +the spirit of "being in the world." Its results have been almost +revolutionary. + +So, too, the rural telephone. Recent investigation in the states of +Ohio, Michigan, and Indiana showed that out of 200,000 subscribers to +the independent telephone companies of those states about one-sixth were +in farm homes. A few years ago, hardly a telephone could be found in a +farmer's family. This business is constantly increasing. The established +telephone companies are pushing their work into the country districts, +small local exchanges are being formed, and soon the farmers, in the +North at least, will be almost as well served by the telephone as are +people of the smaller cities. + +Interurban electric railways are being built very rapidly and their +advantage to the farmer is obvious. It is doubtful if their effect has +been quite so far-reaching as some have suggested. At present they very +largely parallel existing steam railways, and while they give better +freight and passenger service and assist materially in diminishing rural +isolation in the areas which they traverse, their influence does not +extend very far from the line itself, and they reach relatively small +areas of the country. However, their value to the farmer is very large, +and, as they increase in number and in efficiency of service, they will +become a powerful factor in rural progress. + +The good-roads movement is beginning to take on large proportions. It +is, however, a complicated question. To make first-class roads is a +costly business, and while a few such roads are of great value in a +general social way, they do not quite make general country conditions +ideal. To accomplish this, every road in the country should be a good +road the year through, and this is an ideal very difficult of +realization. However, in general, the roads are improving and as rapidly +as the wealth of the country will permit the road system of the United +States will be developed. Of course, good roads are a prime requisite +for rural betterment. + +In general, it may be said that during the past decade the improvement +of means of communication in rural districts has gone forward at a +marvelously rapid pace. Nor is it exaggerating to say that the movements +named are re-creating farm life. + +During this same period, there has been an almost equally wonderful +advance in the means of agricultural education. Just twenty years ago +the experiment-station system of this country was established. It took +ten years for the stations to organize their work and to gain the +confidence of the farmers. At present however, they are looked upon with +great favor by the farming class and are doing a magnificent work. Their +function is that of research chiefly, although they attempt some control +service, such as inspection of fertilizers, stock foods, etc. In +research they aim both to study the more intricate scientific questions +that relate to agriculture and to carry on experiments that are of more +obvious and more immediate practical application to existing conditions +in the various states. There is one of these stations in each state and +territory, besides a number of stations supported by state funds. The +Department of Agriculture at Washington has also developed during the +last ten years until it is performing very large service for +agriculture. Its annual expenditures aggregate eight or ten million +dollars, and it has in its employment hundreds of experts carrying on +laboratory and field research, scouring the world for plants and seeds +that may be of economic value, and assisting to control plant and animal +diseases. It is also distributing a vast amount of practical +information, put in readable form and adapted to the average farmer. Its +work of seeking to extend the markets of our agricultural products is +one of its notable successes. + +Agricultural schools have been talked about for a century, and during +the early part of the last century several were started. The first +permanent agricultural college was opened in 1857, in Michigan. The +Morrill Act of 1862 gave rise to a system of such colleges and today +there will be found one in every state and territory, besides several +for the colored people of the South. Up to 1890, these colleges had been +not wholly satisfactory and the farming class was not patronizing very +fully their agricultural courses. The fault belonged both to the college +and to the farmers. The farmers were skeptical of the value of +agricultural education, and the colleges were often out of sympathy with +the real needs of the farmers, and in fact found it difficult to break +away from the pedagogical ideals of the old educational régime. Since +1890, however, there has been a complete change of sentiment in this +respect, particularly in the Middle West. There the "land-grant" +colleges, whether separate colleges or whether organized as colleges of +state universities, are securing magnificent buildings for agriculture, +are offering fully equipped courses, and are enrolling as students some +of the best men in college, whom they are educating not only for +agricultural teachers and experimenters but also for practical farmers. +Of course, there are many grave problems connected with this subject, +many farmers who do not yet respond to the call for educated +agriculturists, and some colleges that do not yet appreciate their +opportunity. But the change for the better has been so marked that all +agricultural educators are extremely optimistic. + +One of the most difficult and most important phases of agricultural +education is that of a secondary grade. The great proportion of educated +farmers will probably be trained for their business in secondary +schools. This problem is being approached from many standpoints. The +University of Minnesota established, some fourteen years ago, a school +of agriculture, which now enrols several hundred pupils of both sexes. +Wisconsin is trying the experiment of two county schools of agriculture. +Occasionally the public high school will be found offering a course in +agriculture. Several states are experimenting in one or more of these +lines, and during the next few years we shall see a large development of +this phase of agricultural education. + +One of the most interesting movements in agricultural education has been +an attempt to introduce nature-study and even the elements of +agriculture into the country schools. Cornell University has taken the +lead in advocating "nature-study" purely, for the schools; and the +University of Missouri has perhaps been the leader in advocating that +the work be made even more definite and practical, and that the country +pupils shall be taught, during their early years even, "the elements of +agriculture." Both plans are being worked out with a fair degree of +success, and many other states are carrying out the work in some form or +other. Of course the idea is not a new one, but its present practical +application is a timely one, and it will not be long before this branch +of agricultural education will become a prominent factor in rural +betterment. + +A most suggestive phase of agricultural education is college extension +work. University extension has had a rather meteoric career in this +country, in so far as it has been connected with educational +institutions; although the extension idea is spreading rapidly and is +being worked out through home study and correspondence courses of all +sorts. But I think there is scarcely any field in which the real college +extension idea is today being more successfully applied than in +agriculture. The work started with farmers' institutes, which were +instituted about twenty-five years ago and which have been adopted in +practically all the states of the Union. It has broadened within ten +years, until now it is carried on not only by farmers' institutes, but +through home-correspondence courses, the introduction of millions of +pamphlets into farm homes, demonstrations in spraying, butter-making, +soil testing, milk testing, and so on. + +Ontario presents a good illustration of how a new agriculture can be +created, in a dozen years, by co-operating methods of agricultural +education. Her provincial department of agriculture, her experiment +station, her agricultural college, her various forms of extension work, +and her various societies of agriculturists have all worked together +with an unusual degree of harmony for the deliberate purpose of inducing +Canadian agriculturists to produce the things that will bring the most +profit. The results have been most astonishing and most gratifying. + +The recent progress in the organization of farmers has been less marked +than has been the development of rural communication and agricultural +education. Organization is a prime requisite for farmers. They feel this +truth themselves. For the last forty years, many attempts--some large, +some small, some successful, some great failures--have been made to this +end. The problem is an extremely difficult one. Business co-operation +among farmers is especially difficult and, while co-operation has +developed quite largely--so much so that the Department of Agriculture +was able to report, a year ago, a list of five thousand co-operative +societies of various kinds among farmers--still it cannot be said that +the farmers are co-operating industrially in a relatively large way. +They have, however, a multitude of associations and societies. They have +also the Grange, which is the most successful of all the general +organizations of farmers in the country. Contrary to public belief, the +Grange is not defunct, but has been growing at a very rapid pace during +the last few years and has a large influence especially in the East and +Middle West. It has practically no existence in the far West and in the +South. It has a national organization, however, representing some +twenty-six states. Its influence in Congress is said to be marked. The +local Granges are doing a very large work, socially, educationally, and +sometimes financially. The Grange seems to understand itself now. Its +ideals have been worked out pretty carefully, and its future growth is +quite certain. + +We have suggested that the significant rural social movements of the +past few years have been the improvement of rural communication, the +wonderful development of agricultural education, and the fairly +satisfactory development of organization among farmers. It seems also +apparent that there is a fourth line of development that might be +mentioned as being significant, and it may be expressed in a somewhat +general statement that the interest in agricultural questions has +increased in a very marked way. There is undoubtedly a new emphasis upon +country life generally. The people of the cities have been going to the +country more than ever before. A walk, the length of Beacon Street in +Boston, at any time from the middle of June to late autumn, convinces +one that the majority of the people are somewhere in the country. All +over the North, city people are making country homes for at least a +portion of the year. There is also a growing interest in the farm and +farm problems among the general public. Just now the country schools are +attracting special attention from the educators--so much so that the +late President Harper stated, not long ago, that the rural-school +question is the coming question in education. Even the country church is +being made a subject of discussion in religious circles. It is conceded +that agriculture presents "problems." And while the throbbing, busy, +intense life of the city brings perplexing questions to our +civilization, our people are coming to realize that the agricultural +population and the agricultural industry are still tremendous factors in +our national life and success, and that both social and industrial +conditions in the country are such that there also are grave questions +to be settled. + +In view of the facts which have been given, I think if one were asked to +give a direct answer to the question, Is the farmer keeping up? one +could reply, Yes. In some sections of the country, the farmers have not +responded to these forward movements. The countryman is naturally +conservative. Not only that, but there are some serious questions that +he has to meet in his business and in his life. He finds it extremely +and increasingly difficult to get adequate labor. He has not been able +to take sufficient advantage of the power of co-operation. The +industrial and social development of the city has lured away his +children. And yet one cannot help feeling that these really remarkable +advances of the past decade are prophetic of a steady improvement in +rural conditions, of a larger development of rural life, of a greater +prosperity for agriculture. + +With regard to the future, it seems to me that, on the social side, the +progress of the next few years is to be along the lines, indicated +above, which have characterized the past ten or a dozen years. Still +further improved means of communication will tend to banish isolation +and its drawbacks. Realization of the benefits of organization and +ability to co-operate will vastly strengthen class power. The means of +agricultural education will be developed very rapidly, with the ideal in +mind of being able to furnish some sort of agricultural training for +every individual who lives upon the farm. The country question, as a +whole, will attract increasing attention. Gradually it will be seen that +the rural problem is one of the greatest interest to all our citizens. +The spirit of co-operation will grow until not only the farmers +themselves unite for their own class interests but the various social +agencies--industrial, religious, educational--ministering to rural +betterment will find themselves also co-operating. Thus, it seems to me, +the outlook for the future is full of hope. A genuine forward movement +for rural betterment has had its beginning, is now gathering volume, and +will soon attain very large proportions. + + + + +FORWARD STEPS + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE SOCIAL SIDE OF THE FARM QUESTION + + +There is a proverb in Grange circles which expresses also the +fundamental aim of all agricultural education--"The farmer is of more +consequence than the farm and should be first improved." The first term +in all agricultural prosperity is the man behind the plow. Improved +agriculture is a matter of fertile brain rather than of fertile field. +Mind culture must precede soil culture. + +But if the improved man is the first term in improved agriculture, if he +is the effective cause of rural progress, he is also the last term and +the choice product of genuine agricultural advancement. We may +paraphrase the sordid, "raise more corn to feed more hogs to buy more +land to raise more corn, etc.," into the divine, "train better farmers +to make better farming to grow better farmers, etc." We want trained men +that we may have an advancing agricultural art, that we may make every +agricultural acre render its maximum. The improved acre, however, must +yield not only corn but civilization, not only potatoes but culture, +not only wheat but effective manhood. + +But we may carry the point a step farther. The individual farmer is the +starting-point and the end of agriculture, it is true. But the lone +farmer is an anomaly, either as a cause or as a product, as the lone man +is everywhere. As an effective cause we must have co-operating +individuals, and as an end we desire an improved community and a +higher-grade _class_ of farmers. + +The farm question then is a social question. Valuable as are the +contributions of science to the problems of soil and plant and animal, +the ultimate contribution comes from the development of improved men. So +the real end is not merely to utilize each acre to its utmost, nor to +provide cheap food for the people who do not farm, nor yet to render +agriculture industrially strong. The gravest and most far-reaching +consideration is the social and patriotic one of endeavoring to develop +and maintain an agricultural class which represents the very best type +of American manhood and womanhood, to make the farm home the ideal home, +to bring agriculture to such a state that the business will always +attract the keen and the strong who at the same time care more for home +and children and state and freedom than for millions. In other words, +the maintenance of the typical American farmer--the man who is +essentially middle class, who is intelligent, who keeps a good standard +of living, educates his children, serves his country, owns his +medium-sized farm, and who at death leaves a modest estate--the +maintenance of the typical American farmer is the real agricultural +problem. + +If this analysis is a correct one, it will vitally affect our plans for +agricultural training. The student will be taught not only soil physics, +but social psychology. He will learn not only the action of bacteria in +milk fermentation, but the underlying causes of the social ferment among +the farmers of the last thirty years. He will concern himself with the +value of farmers' organizations as well as with the co-operating +influences of high-bred corn and high-bred steers. The function and +organization of the rural school will be as serious a problem to him as +the building and management of the co-operative creamery. The country +church and its career will interest him fully as much as does the latest +successful device for tying milch cows in the stable. He will want to +get at the kernel of the political questions that confront agriculture +just as fully and thoroughly as he wishes to master the formulae for +commercial fertilizers. No man will have acquired an adequate +agricultural education who has not been trained in rural social science, +and who does not recognize the bearing of this wide field of thought +upon the business of farming as well as upon American destiny. + +Research, too, will be touched with the social idea. The men who study +conditions existing in rural communities which have to do with the real +life of the people--the effects of their environment, the tendencies of +their habits and customs--will need as thorough preparation for their +work, and the result of their efforts will be as useful as that of the +men who labor in field and laboratory. + +But the most profound consequence of recognizing the social side of the +farm question will be the new atmosphere created at the agricultural +colleges. These institutions are fast gaining leadership in all the +technical questions of agriculture--leadership gladly granted by +progressive farmers whenever the institution is managed with +intelligence and in the spirit of genuine sympathy with farming. But +these colleges must minister to the _whole farmer_. They must help the +farmer solve all his problems, whether these problems are scientific, or +economic, or social, or political. And let it be said in all earnestness +that in our rapidly shifting industrial order, the farmer's interest in +the political, social, and economic problems of his calling is fully as +great as it is in those purely scientific and technical. And rightly so. +A prime steer is a triumph. But it will not of itself keep the farmer +free. The 50-bushels-of-wheat acre is a grand business proposition +provided the general industrial conditions favor the grower as well as +the consumer. When our agricultural colleges enter into the fullest +sympathy with all the rural problems, when the farm home and the rural +school and the country church and the farmer's civic rights and duties +and all the relations of his business to other industries--when these +questions are "in the air" of our agricultural colleges, then and then +alone will these colleges fulfil their true mission of being _all things +to all farmers_. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +THE NEEDS OF NEW ENGLAND AGRICULTURE + + +One might name a score of important activities that should be encouraged +in order to better New England agriculture. But the two fundamental +needs are (1) adaptation and (2) co-operation. + +By adaptation is meant such development of agriculture as shall more +fully utilize existing physical and commercial conditions. The West has +for seventy-five years pressed hard upon New England farming. But along +with this western competition has come a new opportunity for the eastern +farmer. New England farmers as a whole have not quickly enough responded +to this new opportunity. Many of their troubles may be traced to the +failure to adapt themselves to the new conditions. The men in New +England who have met the new opportunity are succeeding. + +What does this adaptation consist in? It means, first, the adaptation of +the New England farmer to his markets. In most parts of the country the +type of farming is perhaps more dependent upon physical conditions of +soil and climate than upon the immediate market. In New England the +reverse is now true, and the type of New England farming must be +adapted, absolutely and completely, to the demands of its market. New +England farmers have the most superb markets in the country. Of the six +million people in New England, approximately 75 per cent. live in the +cities and villages. There are, in New England, thirty cities having a +population of twenty-five thousand or more. The great majority of these +cities are manufacturing cities peopled by the best class of consumers +in the world--the American skilled artisan. They constitute a nearby +market that demands fresh products which cannot be transported across a +continent. New England is also especially favored in its nearness to the +European market. The New England farmer then must adapt his crops, his +methods, and his style of farming to his peculiar market. + +In the second place, this adaptation must be one of soil, just as +anywhere else, only the problem here becomes more complicated because of +the varied character of the farming lands. How to make the valleys and +the hills, the rocky ridges and the sand plains of New England yield +their largest possibilities in agriculture is a problem of the greatest +scientific and industrial interest, and it is the problem that New +England agriculture has to face. In this connection comes also the need +of special varieties adapted not only to the market but to the soil and +climate. + +This principle of adaptation is the industrial key to future +agricultural development in New England. But to achieve this adaptation, +to make the key work, there is needed the force of social organization. +The farmer must be reached before the farm can be improved. The man who +treads the furrow is a greater factor than nitrogen or potash. How is +this man to be reached, inspired, instructed? Largely by some form of +organization. The second and greater need therefore is co-operation. + +Co-operation means faith in agriculture--a faith too seldom found in the +Israel of New England's yeomanry. Co-operation means ideals--ideals of +rural possibilities too seldom dreamed of in the philosophy of the +Yankee farmer. Co-operation means power--power that cannot be acquired +by the lone man, not even by the resolute individualism so dominant in +New England character. + +There are three forms of co-operation, all of which are desirable and +even essential if the most rapid agricultural progress in New England is +to be secured--co-operation among individuals, among organizations, +among states. + +The farmers of New England must work together. The Grange is stronger in +New England than in any other portion of the country of similar +area--yet not one farmer in ten belongs to the Grange. We need not dwell +on this point, for it is a truth constantly preached through the Grange +and through other means. Let me suggest two ideas relative to +co-operation which have not received so much attention. + +Each organization has its peculiar work. The school is to train the +young, the agricultural college to prepare the youth, the farmers' +institute to instruct and inspire the middle-aged and mature. The +experiment station seeks to discover the means by which nature and man +may better work together. The producers' unions endeavor to secure a +fair price for their goods. The Grange enlarges the views of its members +and brings the power which comes from working together, buying together, +meeting together, talking together, acting together. Boards of +agriculture control conditions of health and disease among animals and +plants. The country fair educates and interests. The church crowns all +in its ministrations of spiritual vision, moral uplift, and insistence +upon character as the supreme end of life. + +But no institution can do the work of the others. They are members one +of another. The hand cannot say to the foot, I have no need of thee. All +these things make for rural progress. None can be spared. The Grange +cannot take the place of the church. The institute cannot supplant the +Grange. The college course cannot reach the adult farmer. The experiment +station cannot instruct the young. The church cannot secure reforms in +taxation. + +These agencies may however co-operate. Indeed the most rapid and most +secure rural progress, the broadest and soundest agricultural growth, +can not take place unless there be this form of co-operation. There will +come added interest, increased efficiency, larger views, greater +ambitions in our agricultural development, if, in each state, all of +these forces work together. + +We may therefore welcome most cordially the proposed plan of federating +the various agricultural societies of each state into one grand +committee organized for the purpose of forwarding all the agricultural +interests of that state. Let there be, moreover, a "League for Rural +Progress," in each state or, at least, an annual conference on rural +progress, in each state, in which the representatives of the farmers' +societies, of the schools, of the churches, and indeed all other people +who have the slightest interest in rural advancement may meet to discuss +plans and methods which shall better agriculture and the farmer. + +But this is not enough. There ought to be co-operation among these +various social institutions without respect to state lines. The farm +problem in New England is one problem, although differing in details, it +is true, in different states. Co-operation should not stop with the +federating of the organizations of a state. There is no reason, for +instance, why the agricultural colleges and experiment stations of New +England should not co-operate. It is not practicable to prevent all +duplication of work. I do suggest the desirability and the feasibility +of genuine co-operation. + +Why should not those in charge of the rural schools of all New England +meet together and discuss the difficulties and achievements as they +exist in different states? Why not have a "New England Society for +Agricultural Education," in which all organizations and all individuals +who are interested in any phase of this subject may meet for discussing +New England problems? Could not boards of agriculture co-operate to some +extent, especially in farmers' institute work with general plans and +ideas? Certainly conferences between these boards ought to yield most +valuable results. Is the idea of a genuine New England fair a mere +dream? + +Cannot the Granges of New England profitably co-operate more fully? It +is true that there is considerable intervisitation, and yet the rank and +file of members in one state know comparatively little of the progress +and methods of the Grange in an adjoining state; this knowledge is +confined to a few leaders. Would it not be worth while to attempt an +occasional New England assemblage of Grange members, a representative +gathering for discussing Grange work and for enthusing the Grange people +of New England with the possibilities of still further Grange +development? + +The idea of New England as a unit of interest in church matters is +already exemplified by the appointment of a New England secretary of the +federation of churches. It is not too much to expect that, in the near +future, all the means for church federation in New England shall work +together, because it is evident that co-operation and unity are demanded +by the nature of the field. + +And finally, is it idle to think that there might be a New England +League for Rural Progress or, at least, a New England Conference on +Rural Progress, which shall bring from every corner of New England +representatives of the agricultural colleges, of the Granges, of the +country church, of the rural school, of the country press, and all other +individuals who believe in the possibilities of New England agriculture, +and in the efficiency of the fullest and freest co-operation? + +There are several powerful reasons why an attempt to better New England +agriculture will be greatly aided by co-operation that includes every +inch of New England soil from Boston harbor to the Berkshires, and from +Mt. Katahdin to Point Judith. + +(1) The importance of New England agriculture. In the appended table is +attempted a comparison between New England as a unit, the state of +Michigan representing an average agricultural state, and the state of +Iowa representing the foremost agricultural state. The figures, taken +from the Census of 1900, are given in round numbers. Such a table is not +conclusive as to agricultural conditions. But it is very suggestive as +to the importance of New England agriculture both industrially and +socially. It will be seen that, with an area only a little larger than +Michigan, New England compares in every respect favorably with that +average state and, in some respects, excels it, while it excels both +Michigan and Iowa by 65 per cent. in gross value of product per acre of +improved land. + +(2) Agricultural conditions all over New England are quite similar. +Speaking broadly, the soil and climate of one state are the soil and +climate of another. The people are of the same stock, the same views, +the same habits, the same traditions. The demand of the market is fairly +uniform for different sections. The New England city is the New +Englander's special possession as a market. Farm labor conditions are +much the same. In fact, there is hardly a portion of our country, of the +same area, which in all these respects yields itself more completely to +the idea of unity. + +(3) The hopefulness of the farm problem. Nearly four millions of city +people live in New England. They must be fed. The nearness of the +market means high-class products. This means intensive agriculture. +Intensive agriculture means education and intelligence. The cities are +growing. Their power of consumption is steadily and rapidly increasing. + +(4) The unusual social equipment. It must be remembered that in an area +but little larger than Iowa, which has one agricultural college and one +agricultural experiment station and no Granges to speak of, New England +has, in comparison, six agricultural colleges, six experiment stations, +six boards of agriculture, over a thousand Granges, and numerous +agricultural societies. The means of agricultural education in New +England are more numerous and may be more efficient than in any other +portion of this country of similar area. Moreover, the cities are now in +a position to help solve the problem in New England. They have leaders. +There are in them men with leisure and talent who are interested in this +problem and who are willing to help solve it. + +(5) The sentimental side. A campaign for rural progress, with New +England as the unit, ought to arouse the pride and enthusiasm of all the +sons and daughters of New England who still have the privilege of living +within her borders, as well as the interest and sympathy of all her +grandsons who, though living under western skies, still cherish in their +hearts the deepest affection for their Fatherland. Shall not the idea of +uniting all the forces of agricultural betterment that exist in New +England be a stimulus to every farmer in the six states, and, indeed, +attract the sympathy and practical aid of every lover of New England +soil? + +Adaptation, co-operation: these are the primary needs of New England +agriculture; an adaptation of the farmer and his farm to existing +conditions, a co-operation that unites individual farmers into various +associated efforts, that federates the work and influence of the +different social agencies within the state, and that ultimately secures +the unity of all New England in a great movement for rural advancement. + + + =================================================================== + | New England | Michigan | Iowa + ------------------------------------------------------------------- + Total land area-- | | | + square miles | 62,000 | 57,500 | 55,500 + Number of farms | 192,000 | 203,000 | 229,000 + Acreage in farms | 20,500,000 | 17,500,000 | 34,600,000 + Acres of improved | | | + land | 8,135,000 | 11,800,000 | 29,900,000 + Value of farms | $640,000,000 | $690,000,000 | $1,835,000,000 + Value of farm | | | + products | $170,000,000 | $147,000,000 | $365,000,000 + Persons engaged in | | | + agriculture | 290,000 | 312,000 | 372,000 + Rural population | 1,500,000 | 1,200,000 | 1,260,000 + Value of products per| | | + acre of improved | | | + land | $20 | $12 | $12 + Number of Granges | 1,200 | 725 | + Number of Grange | | | + members | 120,000 | 45,000 | + ------------------------------------------------------------------- + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +AN UNTILLED FIELD IN AMERICAN EDUCATION + + +Agricultural education in this country has thus far been an attempt to +apply a knowledge of the laws of the so-called "natural" sciences to the +practical operations of the farm. Comparatively little attention has +been paid to the application of the principles of the "social" sciences +to the life of the farmer. All this is partly explained by the fact that +the natural sciences were fairly well developed when the needs of the +farmer called the scientist to work with and for the man behind the +plow, when a vanishing soil fertility summoned the chemist to the +service of the grain grower, when the improvement of breeds of stock and +races of plants began to appeal to the biologist. Moreover, these +practical applications of the physical and biological sciences are, and +always will be, a fundamental necessity in the agricultural question. + +But in the farm problem we cannot afford to ignore the economic and +sociological phases. While it may be true that the practical success of +the individual farmer depends largely upon his business sense and his +technical education, it is folly to hope that the success of agriculture +as an industry and the influence of farmers as a class can be based +solely upon the ability of each farmer to raise a big crop and to sell +it to advantage. General intelligence, appreciation of the trend of +economic and social forces, capacity to co-operate, ability to voice his +needs and his rights, are just as vital acquirements for the farmer as +knowing how to make two blades of grass grow where but one grew before. +It finally comes to this, that the American farmer is obliged to study +the questions that confront him as a member of the industrial order and +as a factor in the social and political life of the nation, with as much +zeal and understanding as he is expected to show in the study of those +natural laws governing the soil and the crops and the animals that he +owns. + +In this connection it is significant to note that farmers themselves are +already quite as interested in the social problems of their particular +calling and in the general economic and political questions of the day, +as they are in science applied to their business of tilling the soil. +Not necessarily that they minimize the latter, but they seem +instinctively to recognize that social forces may work them ill or work +them good according to the direction and power of those forces. This +statement is illustrated by the fact that the aims, purposes, labors, +and discussions of the great farmers' organizations like the Grange are +social in character, having to do with questions that are political, +economic, sociological. + +When, however, we turn to those public educational agencies that are +intended to assist in the solution of the farm problem, we discover that +they are giving slight attention to the social side of the question. An +examination of the catalogues of the agricultural colleges, whether +separate institutions or colleges of state universities, reveals the +fact that, beyond elementary work in economics, in civics, and +occasionally in sociology, little opportunity is given students to study +the farm question from its social standpoint. With a few exceptions, +these institutions offer no courses whatever in rural social problems, +and even in these exceptional cases the work offered is hardly +commensurate with the importance of the subject. Nearly all our other +colleges and universities are subject to the same comment. The average +student of problems in economics and sociology and education gains on +conception whatever of the importance and character of the rural phases +of our industrial and social life. + +It may be urged in explanation of this state of affairs that the liberal +study of the social sciences in our colleges and universities and +especially any large attention to the practical problems of economics +and sociology, is a comparatively recent thing. This is true and is a +good excuse. But it does not offer a reason why the social phases of +agriculture should be longer neglected. The purpose of this article is +less to criticize than to describe a situation and to urge the +timeliness of the large development, in the near future, of rural social +science. + +At the outset the queries may arise, What is meant by rural social +science? and, What is there to be investigated and taught under such a +head? The answer to the first query has already been intimated. Rural +social science is the application of the principles of the social +sciences, especially of economics and sociology, to the problems that +confront the American farmer. As a reply to the second query there are +appended at the end of this chapter outlines of possible courses in +agricultural economics and rural sociology, which were prepared by the +writer for the exhibit in "rural economy" at the St. Louis exposition. +There are also subjects that have a political bearing, such as local +government in the country, and primary reform in rural communities, +which perhaps ought not to be omitted. So, too, various phases of home +life and of art might be touched upon. The subjects suggested and others +like them could be conveniently grouped into from two to a dozen +courses, as circumstances might require. + +What classes of people may be expected to welcome and profit by +instruction of this character? (1) The farmers themselves. Assuming that +our agricultural colleges are designed, among other functions, to train +men and women to become influential farmers, no argument is necessary to +show how studies in rural social science may help qualify these students +for genuine leadership of their class of toilers. On the other hand, it +may be remarked that no subjects will better lend themselves to college +extension work than those named above. Lectures and lecture courses for +granges, farmers' clubs, farmers' institutes, etc., on such themes would +arouse the greatest interest. Correspondence and home study courses +along these lines would be fully as popular as those treating of soils +and crops. (2) Agricultural educators. The soil physicist or the +agricultural chemist will not be a less valuable specialist in his own +line, and he certainly will be a more useful member of the faculty of an +agricultural college, if he has an appreciative knowledge of the +farmer's social and economic status. This is even more true of men +called to administer agricultural education in any of its phases. (3) +Rural school administrators and the more progressive rural teachers. The +country school can never become truly a social and intellectual center +of the community until the rural educators understand the social +environment of the farmer. (4)Country clergymen. The vision of a +social-service church in the country will remain but a dream unless, +added to the possession of a heart for such work, the clergyman knows +the farm problem sufficiently to appreciate the broader phases of the +industrial and social life of his people. (5) Editors of farm papers, +and of the so-called "country" papers. Probably the editors of the +better class of agricultural papers are less in need of instruction such +as that suggested than is almost anyone else. Yet the same arguments +that now lead many young men aspiring to this class of journalism to +regard a course in scientific agriculture as a vestibule to their work +may well be used in urging a study of rural social science, especially +at a time when social and economic problems are pressing upon the +farmer. As for the country papers, the work of purveying local gossip +and stirring the party kettle too often obscures the tremendous +possibilities for a high-class service to the rural community which such +papers may render. No men, in the agricultural states at least, have +more real influence in their community than the trained, clean, manly, +country editors--and there is a multitude of such men. If as a class +they possessed also a wider appreciation of the farmer's industrial +difficulties and needs, hardly anyone could give better service to the +solution of the farm problem than could they. (6) Everybody else! That +is to say, the agricultural question is big enough and important enough +to be understood by educated people. The farmers are half our people. +Farming is our largest single industrial interest. The capital invested +in agriculture is four-fifths the capital invested in manufacturing and +railway transportation combined. Whether an individual has a special +interest in business, in economics, in education, or in religious +institutions, he ought to know the place of the farm and the farmer in +that question. No one can have a full appreciation of the social and +industrial life of the American people who is ignorant of the +agricultural status. + +The natural place to begin work in rural social science is the +agricultural college. Future farmers and teachers of farmers are +supposed to be there. The subjects embraced are as important in solving +the farm problem as are biology, physics, or chemistry. No skilled +farmer or leader of farmers should be without some reasonably correct +notions of the principles that determine the position of agriculture in +the industrial world. A brief study of the elements of political +economy, of sociology, of civics, is not enough; no more than the study +of the elements of botany, of chemistry and of zoölogy is enough. The +specific problems of the farmer that are economic need elucidation +alongside the study of soils and crops, of plant-and stock-breeding. And +these economic topics should be thoroughly treated by men trained in +social science, and not incidentally by men whose chief interest is +technical agriculture. + +The normal schools may well discuss the propriety of adding one or two +courses which bear on the social and economic situation of the rural +classes. While these schools do not now send out many teachers into +rural schools, they may do so under the system of centralized schools; +and in any event they furnish rural school administrators, as well as +instructors of rural teachers. There seems to be a growing sentiment +which demands of the school and of the teacher a closer touch with life +as it is actually lived. How can rural teachers learn to appreciate the +social function of the rural school, except they be taught? + +Nor is there any reason why the theological seminaries, or at least the +institutions that prepare the men who become country clergymen, should +not cover some of the subjects suggested. If the ambition of some people +to see the country church a social and intellectual center is to be +realized, the minister must know the rural problem broadly. The same +arguments that impel the city pastor to become somewhat familiar with +the economic, social, and civic questions of the day hold with equal +force when applied to the necessary preparation for the rural ministry. + +The universities may be called upon to train teachers and investigators +in rural social science for service in agricultural colleges, normal +schools, and theological seminaries. Moreover, there is no good reason +why any college or university graduate should not know more than he does +about the farm problem. There can be little doubt that the interest in +the farm question is very rapidly growing, and that the universities +will be but meeting a demand if they begin very soon to offer courses in +rural social science. + +The arguments for rural social science rest, let us observe, not only +upon its direct aid to the farmers themselves, but upon its value as a +basis for that intelligent social service which preacher, teacher, and +editor may render the farming class. It is an essential underlying +condition for the successful federation of rural social forces. Indeed +it should in some degree be a part of the equipment of every educated +person. + +It may not be out of place to add, in conclusion, that instruction in +rural social problems should be placed in the hands of men who are +thoroughly trained in social science as well as accurate, experienced, +and sympathetic observers of rural conditions. It would be mischievous +indeed if in the desire to be progressive any educational institution +should offer courses in rural social science which gave superficial or +erroneous ideas about the scientific principles involved, or which +encouraged in any degree whatever the notion that the farmer's business +and welfare are not vitally and forever bound up with the business and +welfare of all other classes. + + +OUTLINE FOR A BRIEF COURSE IN AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS + + + I. Characteristics of the Agricultural Industry. + Dependence upon nature. + Capital and labor as applied to agriculture. + The laws of rent and of decreasing returns in agriculture. + Relation of agriculture to other industries and to the welfare of + mankind. + + II. History of the Agricultural Industry. + In ancient times. + Status in Europe prior to the eighteenth century. + The struggle to maintain its standing after the advent of commerce + and manufacture. + In the United States. + The pioneer stage. + Development of commercial agriculture. + The new farming. + +III. Present Status of the Farming Industry. + The world's food supply. + Agricultural resources of the United States. + Geographical factors. + Soils, climate, fertility, natural enemies, etc. + Statistics of farms, farm wealth, production, etc. + Leading sub-industries, cereals, stock, etc. + Distribution of production. + + IV. The Agricultural Market. + Description of the market--local, domestic, foreign. + Mechanism of the market. + Banks and local exchange facilities. + Middlemen. + Boards of trade. + Prices of agricultural products. + Movements of prices. + Agricultural competition. + Depressions of agriculture. + Influence of "options." + Transportation of agricultural products. + Primary transportation--wagon roads and trolley lines. + Railroad and water transportation. + Facilities. + Rates. + Discriminations. + Delivery methods. + Incidents of the transportation system--elevators, etc. + Imperfect distribution of agricultural products. + Development of the market. + Increase of consumption of products--manufacture of farm products + as a factor. + The factor of choicer products. + The factor of better distribution of products. + The local market as a factor. + The foreign market as a factor. + + V. Business Co-operation in Agriculture. + Historical sketch. + Present status. + Production. + Marketing. + Buying. + Miscellaneous business co-operation. + Difficulties and tendencies. + + VI. Agriculture and Legislation. + Land laws and land policies of the United States. + Agriculture and the tariff. + Taxation and agriculture. + Food and dairy laws. + Government aid to agriculture. + +VII. General Problems. + Agricultural labor. + Machinery and agriculture. + Interest rates, indebtedness, etc. + Tenant farming. + Large vs. small farming. + Business methods. + Immigration and agriculture. + + +OUTLINE FOR A BRIEF COURSE IN RURAL SOCIOLOGY + +INTRODUCTION + + +1. Definitions. +2. Relation of the sociological to the economic, the technical, and the + scientific phases of agriculture. + + +Part I + +THE RURAL SOCIAL STATUS + + +CHAPTER I + +Movements of the Farm Population + +1. Statistical survey. +2. The movement to the West. + History, causes. +3. The movement to the cities. + _a_) Growth of cities. + _b_) Depletion of rural population in certain localities. +4. Causes of the movement to the cities. + _a_) Industrial, social, and psychological causes. +5. Results of the movements of the farm population. + _a_) Results both good and bad. + _b_) Résumé of industrial and social results. + + +CHAPTER II + +Social Condition of the Rural Population + +Nativity; color; illiteracy; families; health; temperance; crime; +morality; pauperism; defectives; insanity; etc. + + +CHAPTER III + +The Social Psychology of Rural Life + +1. Isolation and its results. +2. The farm home and its environment. +3. Traits of family life. +4. Traits of individual life. + + +CHAPTER IV + +The Social Aspect of Current Agricultural Questions + +1. Tenant farming. +2. Large vs. small farms. +3. Farm labor. +4. Irregular incomes. +5. Farm machinery. +6. Specialization in farming. +7. Immigration. + + +Part II + +SOCIAL FACTORS IN RURAL PROGRESS + + +CHAPTER I + +Means of Communication in Rural Districts + +1. Importance and status of rural communication. +2. The new movements for better rural communication. + _a_) Highways. + _b_) Rural free mail delivery. + _c_) Rural telephone. + _d_) Interurban electric railways. + + +CHAPTER II + +Farmers' Organizations + +1. Value of. +2. Difficulties in organizing. +3. Forms that organizations may take. +4. History and work of farmers' organizations in the United States. +5. General deductions from study of farmers' organizations. + + +CHAPTER III + +Rural Education + +1. Distinction between rural and agricultural education. +2. The country school. + _a_) Its importance, organization, maintenance, instruction, and + supervision. + _b_) The rural school as a social center. + _c_) The township unit, the consolidated school, the centralized + school. +3. High-school privileges for rural pupils. +4. The rural library. +5. Other agencies for rural education. + + +CHAPTER IV + +Means of Agricultural Education + +1. Historical. +2. Research in agriculture. +3. Agricultural instruction to resident students. + _a_) Higher education in agriculture. + _b_) Secondary education in agriculture. + _c_) Primary education in agriculture. +4. Extension teaching in agriculture. +5. Miscellaneous agencies for agricultural education. + _a_) Farmers' societies. + _b_) The farm press. + _c_) The county paper. + _d_) Industrial departments of steam railways. + + +CHAPTER V + +The Rural Church + +1. Present status. +2. Difficulties in country church work. +3. The awakening in the rural church. +4. The institutional rural church. +5. The Y. M. C. A. in the country. +6. The rural Sunday school. +7. The rural social settlement. + + +CHAPTER VI + +The Social Ideal for Agriculture + +1. The importance of social agencies. +2. The preservation of the "American farmer" essential. +3. Relation of this ideal to our American civilization. +4. The federation or co-operation of rural social agencies. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +FEDERATION FOR RURAL PROGRESS + + +It is almost trite to assert the need of the "socialization"--to use a +much-worked phrase--of the country. It is possible that this need is not +greater than in the cities, but it is different. Among no class of +people is individualism so rampant as among farmers. For more than a +century the American farmer led the freest possible social life. His +independence was his glory. But, when the day of co-operation dawned, he +found himself out of tune with the movement, was disinclined to join the +ranks of organized effort, and he prefers even yet his personal and +local independence to the truer freedom which can be secured only +through co-operative endeavor. Moreover, the social aspect of the rural +problem is important not merely because the farmer is slow to +co-operate. The farm problem is to be met by the activities of social +institutions. + +We may say (assuming the home life, of course) that the church, the +school, and the farmers' organization are the great rural social +institutions. They are the forces now most efficient, and the ones that +promise to abide. This classification may appear to be a mere truism, +when we suggest that under the church should be placed all those +movements that have a distinctively religious motive, under the school +all those agencies that are primarily educational in design, and under +farmers' organizations those associations whose chief function is to +settle questions which concern the farmer as a business man and a +citizen. But the classification answers fairly well. It includes +practically every device that has been suggested for rural betterment. + +There are two interesting facts about these rural institutions: (1) None +of them is doing a tithe of what it ought to be doing to help solve the +farm problem. The church is apparently just about holding its own, +though that is doubted by some observers. Rural schools are not, as a +rule, keeping pace with the demands being made upon them; comparatively +few students in the whole country are studying scientific agriculture. +Not one farmer in twenty belongs to a strong farmers' organization. (2) +All these institutions are awakening to the situation. Progress during +the last decade has been especially gratifying. Co-operative efforts +among farmers are more cautious, but more successful. The Grange has +nearly doubled its membership since 1890; and it, as well as other farm +organizations, has more real power than ever before. The rural-school +question is one of the liveliest topics today among farmers as well as +educators. Opportunities for agricultural education have had a marvelous +development within a decade. Discussion about rural church federation, +the rural institutional church, rural social settlements, and even +experiments in these lines are becoming noticeably frequent. The Young +Men's Christian Association has, its officers think, found the way to +reach the country young man. + +The institutions which we have just discussed, together with the +improvement that comes from such physical agencies as assist quicker +communication (good wagon roads, telephones, rural mail delivery, +electric roads), constitute the social forces that are to be depended +upon in rural betterment. None can be spared or ignored. The function of +each must be understood and its importance recognized. To imagine that +substantial progress can result from the emphasis of any one agency to +the exclusion of any other is a mistake. To assert this is not to +quarrel with the statement we frequently hear nowadays that "the +_church_ should be the social and intellectual center of the +neighborhood;" or that "the _school_ should be the social and +intellectual center of the neighborhood;" or that "the _Grange_ should +be the social and intellectual center of the neighborhood." It is +fortunate that these statements have been made. They show an +appreciation of a function of these agencies that has been neglected. +The first item in rural social progress is that the country preacher, +the rural teacher, the country doctor, the country editor, the +agricultural editor, the agricultural college professor, and especially +the farmer himself, shall see the social need of the farm community. But +to assert, for instance, that the church shall be _the_ social center of +that community may lead to a partial and even to a fanatical view of +things. I would not restrain in the slightest the enthusiasm of any +pastor who wants to make his church occupy a central position in +community life, nor of the teacher who wants to bring her school into +relation with all the economic and social life of the farm, nor of the +leader of the farmers' organization who sees the good that may be done +through the social and intellectual training which his organization can +give. But if there is danger that the preacher in the pursuit of this +ideal, shall ignore the social function of the school and of the +farmers' organization, or that the teacher, or the farmer, or anybody +else who is interested, shall fail to see that there is a logical +division of labor among rural social forces, and that it is only the +intelligent and efficient and harmonious co-operation of all these +forces that will insure the best progress, then to such I appeal with +all the power at my command to recognize not only the breadth of the +whole movement, but to appreciate the limitations of their own special +interests. There are things that the church cannot do and should not +attempt to do. There are things the school cannot do and should not +attempt to do. Accepting our conventional division of social agencies, +we may say that efficient rural progress stands upon a tripod of forces, +and that balance can be maintained only when each is used in its proper +measure. + +We reach now the heart of the topic, which is how these various social +forces may be brought into co-operation--a co-operation that is +intelligent and real. I would suggest, first of all, the encouragement +of all efforts along this line that are already under way. For +instance, there are scattered all over this country individual pastors +who are seeking to make their churches the social and intellectual +beacon-lights of the community. There are other individuals who are +endeavoring to apply the social-settlement idea to the needs of the +country. There are associations which attempt to bring together the +teachers and the school patrons for mutual discussion of educational +topics. In numerous instances the farmers' organizations include in +their membership the country pastor, the district school teacher and +perhaps the country doctor. In these and doubtless in other ways the +idea we are dealing with is being promulgated, and up to a certain point +this fact of promiscuous initiative is entirely satisfactory and +desirable. So long as the work is done it makes little difference who +does it. Every attempt to bring any of these agencies into closer touch +with the farm community is to be welcomed most heartily. But beyond a +certain limit this promiscuous work must be unsatisfactory. The efforts +and interests of any one social agency are bound to be partial. Indeed +the more effective such an agency is, the more partial it is likely to +be. Intensity is gained at the expense of breadth. The need for +federation exists in the desirability of securing both the intensity and +the breadth. + +The precise method of securing this federation of effort is not easy to +foresee. It can be determined only by trial. It must be worked out in +harmony with varying conditions. Some very general plans at once suggest +themselves: (1) Let the agricultural college in each state take the lead +in the movement, acting not so much as an organization as a +clearing-house and a go-between. Let it direct conferences on the +subject, and seek to bring all who are interested in rural affairs into +touch and sympathy. (2) Have a "League for Rural Progress," made up of +representatives from the churches, the agricultural colleges, the +departments of public instruction, the farm press, various farmers' +organizations, etc. (3) Enlarge the "Hesperia movement," which now seeks +to secure co-operation between school and farmers' organization, by +including in it the church. + +It may be of interest to note that this idea of a federation of rural +social forces is getting a foothold and has indeed already crystallized +into organization. A brief description of what has actually been done +will therefore not be out of place. + +So far as the writer is aware, the first meeting based on the definite +idea of co-operation between school, church, and Grange was held at +Morris, Connecticut, in the summer of 1901 and was organized by Rev. F. +A. Holden, then pastor at Morris. This meeting was a very successful +local affair, held in connection with "Old Home Week" celebration. + +Probably the first attempt to hold a similar meeting on a large scale +was the conference at the Agricultural College, Michigan, in February, +1902. It was a joint meeting of the Michigan Political Science +Association and the Agricultural College and farmers' institutes. The +practical initiative was taken by the Political Science Association +under the leadership of its secretary, Professor Henry C. Adams, who had +the cordial co-operation of President Snyder of the Agricultural College +and Professor C. D. Smith, then superintendent of farmers' institutes. +It was a notable gathering, and its promoters were rejoiced to see the +splendid attendance of farmers particularly; teachers and clergymen did +not attend as freely as might have been expected. The programme was a +strong one and included men of national reputation and topics covering a +wide range of interests. + +The addresses were published in the _Michigan Farmers' Institute +Bulletin_ for 1901-02, and were also gathered into a publication of the +Michigan Political Science Association under the title _Social Problems +of the Farmer_. + +The state of Rhode Island has organized on a permanent basis. In 1904 +there was held in Kingston, at the College of Agriculture and Mechanic +Arts, a "Conference on Rural Progress." It was a one-day meeting, well +attended by representative farmers, clergymen, and educators. A +committee was appointed to discuss further procedure, and the next year +there was held in the halls of Brown University a two-days' conference. +The programme included addresses on: The Grange, The Country Church, +School Gardens, and several phases of practical agriculture. Among the +speakers were the assistant secretary of agriculture, Hon. N. J. +Bachelder, now Master of the National Grange, and Dr. Josiah Strong. + +In the spring of 1906 there was organized "The Rhode Island League for +Rural Progress," which was constituted through representation from the +following organizations: State Board of Agriculture; Rhode Island +College of Agriculture; State Federation of Churches; State Grange; +State Association of School Superintendents; State League of Improvement +Societies; Washington County Agricultural Society; Newport Agricultural +Society; Rhode Island Horticultural Society; Newport Horticultural +Society; Rhode Island Poultry Association; Florists and Gardeners' Club; +Kingston Improvement Association. + +This league held the Third Annual Conference on Rural Progress, April 10 +and 11, 1906, the first day's session being at Brown University, +Providence, and the second day's at East Greenwich. Its fourth meeting +was held in Newport in March, 1907. In Rhode Island the idea lying back +of this conference has certainly approved itself to all who are +interested in rural matters. + +The following is the constitution of the league: + + + CONSTITUTION + + Rhode Island League for Rural Progress + + I. NAME.--The name of this body shall be the "Rhode Island League + for Rural Progress." + + II. OBJECT.--The object of the League shall be to secure the + co-operation of the various individuals, organizations, and + agencies which are working for any phase of rural advancement in + this state. + + III. MEMBERSHIP.--Any organization interested in rural advancement, + which may desire to co-operate with the work of the League, may be + represented in the League. + + Any individual in the state interested in rural progress may become + a member of the League upon the payment of one dollar annual fee. + + IV. OFFICERS.--The administrative work of the League shall be + conducted by a council, to be composed of one delegate from each + organization represented in the League, to serve until superseded. + The council at the time of each annual conference shall choose from + among its members a president, a vice-president, and a + secretary-treasurer, and these officers shall act as an executive + committee. + + V. MEETINGS.--The meetings of the League shall be held at the call + of the executive committee. There shall, however, be at least one + annual Conference on rural progress held under the auspices of the + League. + + VI. FINANCES.--The funds necessary to forward the work of the + League may come from three sources: + + _a_) Contributions made by organizations belonging to the League + and represented on the council, such contributions to be voluntary + and in such amount as the respective organizations may designate. + The council may, however, make up a schedule of desired + contributions from the various organizations and present it to the + different organizations. + + _b_) Membership fees from individual members, $1.00 per year from + each member. + + _c_) Private subscriptions. + + +Probably the first successful attempt to organize a permanent league for +rural progress was accomplished in 1904 through the efforts of Rev. G. +T. Nesmith, of Hebron, Ill. It was called "The McHenry County +Federation," and has held three annual meetings and seems to be on a +solid basis. Mr. Nesmith has endeavored to keep the purpose of the +league on a high plane by endeavoring to state clearly the object of the +federation, which is, "that the people of McHenry County might have +life, and have it more abundantly, and this life was not to be a narrow +life. It was the largest aggregate and highest symmetry of the sixfold +ends of individual and community action, viz., health, wealth, +knowledge, sociability, beauty, and righteousness." He also endeavored +to make it clear that "the federation does not seek to supplant the +other forces. It rather seeks to be a clearing-house of the ideas of all +the federated organizations; to be a mount of vision from which each may +look and get a complete vision of life; to be a fraternal bond which +shall link all together in common ties of sympathy, fellowship, and +co-operation." + +The results thus far obtained are perhaps best described by quoting the +words of Mr. G. W. Conn, Jr., superintendent of schools of McHenry +County: + + + There is one noticeable omission in the constitution--a provision + for the proper financing of the federation. This is partially + explained by the fact that the federation has largely centered + about the county Teachers' Association and the county Farmers' + Institute, organizations that are supported in a financial way by + the county and the state appropriations. These appropriations, in + addition to some voluntary gifts, have been sufficient to meet the + necessary expenses of the meetings. + + I think that I am safe in saying that the interest and also the + attendance has probably increased 100 per cent. at each session. + Each year has also seen a much larger percentage of our local men + and women helping out on the programme. It is a little early in its + history to expect much evidence of material results, but I believe + that results are already putting in an appearance, especially from + the esthetic standpoint. Without doubt more trees have been planted + about the country homes and along the country roadsides of this + county than in any two preceding years. In a great many places + roads have been cleaned. Refuse and weeds have been removed and + burned. Landscape gardening on a simple scale is putting in an + appearance in places where it was little expected. The naming of + farms is another feature that is rapidly growing. Boys' country + clubs are being formed and this year, for the first time, three of + these clubs met with the federation, had a banquet, and formed a + county organization. + + Of course not all of these movements are rightfully to be + attributed to the direct influence of the county federation. The + public schools of the county have been largely instrumental in + stirring the public conscience to a livelier appreciation of the + beautiful. The regular observance of Arbor and Bird Days in our + schools has done much toward initiating this movement. However, the + federation has been the great factor in uniting otherwise + independent organizations into one large machine for stirring the + social consciousness and molding public sentiment. It has proved to + be an efficient association in at least three ways, in + co-ordinating our efforts, harmonizing our methods, and broadening + the field of operation. + + +The constitution of this league is given herewith in full: + + + 1. NAME.--The name of this organization shall be, The McHenry + County Federation of Rural Forces. + + 2. OBJECT.--The object of the Federation is to gain a higher + symmetry and a larger aggregate of health, wealth, knowledge, + sociability, beauty, and righteousness to the citizens of McHenry + County. + + 3. ELEMENTS OF THE FEDERATION.--The Federation shall consist of the + following organizations: The Farmers' Institute, Teachers' + Association, Domestic Science Association, Pastors' Association, + Women's Christian Temperance Union, and the Young Men's Christian + Association. + + 4. MEMBERSHIP.--Any county organization may become a member of the + federation by recommendation of the Executive Committee. + + 5. OFFICERS.--The officers of the Federation shall consist of a + president, as many vice-presidents as there are component + organizations, a secretary-treasurer, and an Executive Committee. + + 6. COMMITTEES.--The Executive Committee shall be composed of the + president, the secretary-treasurer, and the presidents of the + component organizations. + + There shall be an Auditing Committee and a Committee on + Resolutions, each consisting of three members and to be appointed + by the president. + + The Nominating Committee shall consist of two members from each of + the component organizations and they shall be appointed by the + president. + + 7. DUTIES.--The Executive Committee shall select the date and fix + the place of every meeting. They shall also prepare the programme. + + The presidents of the component organizations shall be _ex-officio_ + vice-presidents of the Federation. + + 8. AUDITING.--All bills shall be paid by the treasurer after the + same have been countersigned by the Auditing Committee. + + 9. TERM OF OFFICE.--The terms of all officers shall be one year or + until their successors are elected. + + 10. HOW ELECTED.--All officers shall be elected by ballot. + + +The Massachusetts Conference for Town and Village Betterment has dealt +with some phases of the federation idea. Its object is "to contribute to +the formation of a strong, definite, and united purpose among the forces +working for the improvement of civic and social conditions in +Massachusetts, by bringing together all town and village improvement +societies, citizen's associations, civic clubs, and other organizations +interested in this purpose." + +The Massachusetts Agricultural College, in celebrating the fortieth +anniversary of its opening to students, October 2, 1907, held a four +days' conference on rural progress. The programme covered nearly the +whole field of rural development and was made possible by the +co-operation of the State Board of Agriculture, the State Grange, the +Massachusetts Civic League, the Connecticut Valley Congregational Club, +the State Committee of the Y. M. C. A., the Western Massachusetts +Library Club, and the Head-Masters' Club of the Connecticut Valley. No +permanent organization was formed, but the general idea of federation of +rural social forces was fully emphasized and thoroughly appreciated. + +An attempt was made in the spring of 1907 to bring together the various +elements of rural progress in all the New England states. Under the +initiative of the Massachusetts State Board of Agriculture there was +held in March, 1907, a New England Conference on Rural Progress. This +meeting was held very largely for the purpose of discovering the +sentiment among the leaders of New England agriculture with respect to +the desirability and practicability of federating on so large a scale. +In addition to the main meeting, the presidents of the agricultural +colleges of New England were called together in a special section, and +the same was true of the directors of the New England experiment +stations, the masters of the various state granges, the secretaries of +the various state boards of agriculture, and the leaders in the New +England Federation of Churches. + +The idea of federation was clearly approved by the delegates present, +and a temporary organization was effected. It was voted to hold a +similar conference in Boston in the spring of 1908. + +It is probably true that the first and most important step in bringing +about a federation of rural social forces is to educate all concerned to +the _desirability_ of such a federation--to sow the seeds of the idea. +So far as machinery is concerned it may not be necessary to form any new +organization. Indeed, what is chiefly necessary is a sort of +_clearing-house_ for an exchange of ideas and plans among all who are at +work on any phase of the rural social problem. There is need of a +central bureau that shall emphasize the necessity of a study of +agricultural economics and rural sociology, and press the value of +co-operation in the work of social progress in the country. There is +need that somewhere "tab" shall be kept on the whole rural social +movement. We need a directing force to assure a comprehensive view and +study of the whole rural problem. It is important that some +investigations should be carried on that are not likely to be taken up +by some other agency. It would be desirable to have a certain amount of +publication, and in various other ways to carry on a campaign of +education. Above all, it would be desirable to initiate local, state, +and national conferences pervaded by the spirit and purpose of securing +the hearty co-operation of all rural social forces, of all the +organizations that have any rural connection whatever, and of all +individuals who have the slightest genuine interest in any phase of the +farm problem. + +Such a bureau should keep in constant touch with, secure the confidence +of, and supply appropriate literature to, country teachers, preachers, +editors, doctors, and business men, and, more than all, to intelligent +and progressive farmers. And let me add at this point, that it must be +fully understood that the work contemplated cannot possibly achieve +large success unless it is done _with_ the farmers, rather than _for_ +the farmers. The problem is far from that of doing a missionary work for +a down-trodden and ignorant class. It is a much less heroic, a much more +commonplace task. It is simply carrying the idea of co-operation of +individuals a step farther, and endeavoring to secure the co-operation +of interests that have precisely the same goal, although traveling upon +different roads. The prime purpose of the movement is to bring the +specialist into close touch with the more general phases of the problem, +to secure breadth and wholeness, to assure well-balanced effort. + + + [NOTE.--A paper with the title of this chapter was read before the + American Civic Association in 1901, at Minneapolis. A portion of + the paper is retained here. The history of the development of the + idea of federation is brought down to the present time.] + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Chapters in Rural Progress, by +Kenyon L. 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